Electric Field Enlarges Raindrops Beneath Electrified Clouds: Observational Evidence
Name
Geophysical Research Letters - 2021 - Mudiar - Electric Field Enlarges Raindrops Beneath Electrified Clouds Observational.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.25 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
98204dc6e5ea0d3d8e5f8602b12a6350
Author(s)
Mudiar, Dipjyoti
Pawar, SD
Gopalakrishnan, V
Williams, Earle
Date Issued
June 26, 2021
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Mudiar, D., Pawar, S. D., Gopalakrishnan, V., & Williams, E. (2021). Electric field enlarges raindrops beneath electrified clouds: Observational evidence. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL093577.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Simultaneous measurements of cloud electric field and raindrop size at the Earth's surface have been analyzed to investigate an anticipated relation between the two cloud parameters. A significant positive correlation is observed between the magnitude of the surface electric field and raindrop size supported by a theoretical framework advanced here. It is shown that in the presence of an electric field, raindrops increase their size through electrically induced collision and coalescence processes near the Earth's surface. This study also demonstrates that the presence of an electric field inside the cloud can enhance the rain intensity by influencing the growth rate of raindrops. This new insight may be useful for a proper understanding of the rain microphysics and for developing better numerical weather models for simulation and forecasting of heavy rainfall events associated with stronger in‐cloud electrical environments.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl093577
