Warning Research News

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The Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array can map up to twelve thousand points per second, and so can reveal where a flash originates and how it develops in a storm. An example of a flash is shown in this figure. The top two panels show altitude as a function of time. The second of these is a more expanded view, from 20:00.6 - 20:02.2 UT (a period of 1 minute 36 seconds). Color coding indicates elapsed time, with purple being earliest and red being latest. The bottom left panel shows the view one would have from above the storm. The panel just above it shows the view from the south. The lower-right panel shows the view, rotated on its side, one would see from the west. The tics in these three panels are labeled in kilometers from the center of the lightning mapping array, so the east and north dimensions are each 120 km. This flash is longer-lasting and somewhat larger than "typical" lightning flashes. It spans roughly 80 km (50 miles) in the east-west direction. Note how the flash structure extends outward from the dark blue region in which the flash began. This case also shows the classic bi-level structure of flashes. In this case, as in the majority of flashes, lightning channels in the upper layer (well, ok, the layer tilts downward to the west) propagate through positive charge, and channels in the lower layer propagate through negative charge. This bi-level lightning structure results because most storms tend to have a large region of positive charge above a large region of negative charge.

Oklahoma lightning mapping array now expanded

Monday, May 21st, 2012  ·  Posted in Warning Research News

NSSL’s Field Observing Facilities Support (FOFS) team just finished installing seven new lightning mapping stations in the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (OKLMA).

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Scientists launch study of thunderstorm impacts on upper atmosphere

Friday, May 4th, 2012  ·  Posted in Warning Research News

More than 100 researchers from NOAA and 29 other organizations are collaborating on a field project this spring to discover how thunderstorms act like elevators, taking pollution and water-rich air from the surface and lofting it straight up into the upper troposphere.

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A Weather-Ready Nation: A Vital Conversation

Saturday, February 25th, 2012  ·  Posted in Warning Research News

National experts from across the country met on the University of Oklahoma campus Dec. 13-15 to help America better prepare for and survive extreme weather.

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NSSL establishes research partnership with the U.K.

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011  ·  Posted in Warning Research News

NSSL has established a three-year joint research effort with the United Kingdom’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) to focus on hazardous and severe weather forecasts and warnings, and the design, development and use of weather radar systems.

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NSSL helps Phoenix power company brace for sand storms

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011  ·  Posted in Warning Research News

An NSSL algorithm developed in collaboration with Arizona’s Salt River Project (SRP) alerts the power company of the potential for a dust storm.

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