The DOI matches its Crossref record; 20 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
WHERE ARE THE MOST INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS ON EARTH?
Open accessAbstract
The instruments on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite have been observing storms as well as rainfall since December 1997. This paper shows the results of a systematic search through seven full years of the TRMM database to find indicators of uncommonly intense storms. These include strong (> 40 dBZ) radar echoes extending to great heights, high lightning flash rates, and very low brightness temperatures at 37 and 85 GHz. These are used as proxy variables, indicating powerful convective updrafts. The main physical principles supporting this assertion involve the effects of such updrafts in producing and lofting large ice particles high into the storm, where TRMM's radar easily detects them near storm top. TRMM's passive microwave radiometer detects the large integrated ice water path as very low brightness temperatures, while high lightning flash rates are a physically related but instrumentally independent indicator. The geographical locations of these very intense convective storms demonstrate strong regional preferences for certain land areas while they are extremely rare over tropical oceans. Favored locations include the south-central United States, southeast South America, and equatorial Africa. Other regions have extreme storms mainly in specific seasons, such as the Sahel, the Indian subcontinent, and northern Australia. Because intense storms are distributed quite differently from rainfall, these maps provide some new metrics for global models, if they are to simulate the type of convection as a component of our climate system.
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Cites
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Sensor Package
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Self-citationRain-Profiling Algorithm for the TRMM Precipitation Radar
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Self-citationThe spatial distribution of severe thunderstorm and tornado environments from global reanalysis data
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Contrasting convective regimes over the Amazon: Implications for cloud electrification
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Storm Morphology and Rainfall Characteristics of TRMM Precipitation Features
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Self-citation
Cited by
The global lightning-induced nitrogen oxides source
Schumann, U., & Huntrieser, H. (2007) · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics · doi:10.5194/acp-7-3823-2007 · Cited by 708
A Cloud and Precipitation Feature Database from Nine Years of TRMM Observations
Liu, C., Zipser, E. J., Cecil, D. J., Nesbitt, S. W., & Sherwood, S. (2008) · Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology · doi:10.1175/2008jamc1890.1 · Cited by 384
Self-citationAbarca, S. F., Corbosiero, K. L., & Galarneau, T. J. (2010) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2009jd013411 · Cited by 309
Feng, Z., Leung, L. R., Houze, R. A., Hagos, S., Hardin, J., Yang, Q., Han, B., & Fan, J. (2018) · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems · doi:10.1029/2018ms001305 · Cited by 266
Tropical Precipitation Extremes
Rossow, W. B., Mekonnen, A., Pearl, C., & Goncalves, W. (2013) · Journal of Climate · doi:10.1175/jcli-d-11-00725.1 · Cited by 87
Metadata
- Authors
- Zipser, E. J., Cecil, D. J., Liu, C., Nesbitt, S. W., & Yorty, D. P.
- Venue
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
- Publisher
- American Meteorological Society
- Published
- 2006-08
- Volume
- 87
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1057-1072
- ISSN
- 0003-0007 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-0477
- OpenAlex
- W2094785406
- Cited by
- 991
- References
- 20
- FWCI
- 16.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
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