Collaborative Research: AGS-FIRP Track 2--Phased Array Polarimetry for Electrification and Lightning (PAPEL)

This award supports the study of cloud electrification and lightning using phased-array weather radar. The research team will deploy multiple mobile radars to the field to observe key aspects of thunderstorms. Phased-array radars provide extremely fast sampling compared to traditional radars, allowing measurement of lightning features that were previously difficult to observe. Improved knowledge of lightning processes supports better hazard prediction and helps reduce risks to people and infrastructure. Students will be trained at the intersection of meteorology, radar engineering, and data science. The research in this award will focus on two core scientific uncertainties in lightning and atmospheric electricity: 1) flash-scale plasma physics, and 2) the meteorological setting of lightning initiation via electric-field changes. These topics will be studied using data collected during thunderstorms in the U.S. Great Plains from the University of Oklahoma’s Horus S-band radar and the X-band RaXPol radar. The research will provide new insight into when and where lightning channels heat and how they interact with the storm’s electric field as observed through ice crystal alignment. The study will also clarify how storm-scale microphysical and kinematic conditions relate to the probability of observing ice crystal alignment and direct plasma scattering. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.