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Near absence of lightning in torrential rainfall producing Micronesian thunderstorms
Author(s) -
Takahashi Tsutomu
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl017i013p02381
Subject(s) - graupel , thunderstorm , radiosonde , lightning (connector) , micronesian , precipitation , meteorology , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , depth sounding , climatology , geology , oceanography , geography , physics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , genealogy , history
The near absence of lightning in the torrential rain producing, tall, convective clouds at Ponape, Micronesia was studied by the use of special radiosondes. A unique rainwater accumulation process involving frozen raindrop‐hail formation was found to take place in a narrow layer of altitude just above the freezing level. However, the concentration of frozen particles, including graupel, was one order of magnitude less than that required to trigger lightning. This may be the reason for the weakness of electrical activity in Micronesian thunderstorms.