Narrow bipolar pulse locations compared to thunderstorm radar echo structure

Abstract

AbstractThe locations of 172 positive narrow bipolar pulses (NBPs) found on one day in Florida are superimposed on radar reflectivity data from that day. All 172 NBPs were found within the reflectivity of a thundercloud or at the edge of the reflectivity. The NBPs were classified into three groups: (I) in or above the high‐reflectivity core of the storm, (II) in the convective region but not Group I, or (III) in the anvil region. Groups I, II, and III had, respectively, 79%, 17%, and 4% of the NBPs. Of the 136 NBPs in Group I, 43% occurred within the reflectivity core and 57% occurred above the core. A sequence of 34 positive NBPs during 1 h of one thunderstorm suggests that the majority of NBPs occurred during the rapid growth of two thunderstorm cells. Positive NBPs seem to recur in some storm locations; 67 (39%) of the NBPs were part of a recurrent set. We found 28 cases of NBPs recurring in approximately the same location, including 22 doublets, 3 triplets, 2 quadruplets, and 1 sextuplet. Analyses of one quadruplet and one sextuplet showed that these 10 positive NBPs occurred just above and/or right beside the high‐reflectivity core on the downshear side of the core. Our data lead us to a hypothesis that NBPs occurring between the thunderstorm's upper positive charge and upper negative screening charge are initiated by small‐scale charge regions with positive charge above negative charge, or opposite the orientation of the large‐scale storm charges.