- 著者
- Ryohei MISUMI Namiko SAKURAI Takeshi MAESAKA Shin-ichi SUZUKI Shingo SHIMIZU Koyuru IWANAMI
- 出版者
- Meteorological Society of Japan
- 雑誌
- 気象集誌. 第2輯 (ISSN:00261165)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.96A, pp.51-66, 2018 (Released:2018-02-19)
- 参考文献数
- 26
- 被引用文献数
- 4
Convective storms are frequently initiated over mountains under weak synoptic forcing conditions. However, the initiation process of such convective storms is not well understood due to a lack of observations, especially the transition process from non-precipitating cumuli to precipitating convective clouds. To investigate the initiation process, we conducted observations around the mountains in the Kanto region, Japan on 18 August 2011 using a 35 GHz (Ka-band) Doppler radar and a pair of digital cameras. The evolution of convective clouds was classified into three stages: convective clouds visible but not detected by the Ka-band radar (stage 0), convective clouds detectable by the Ka-band radar with reflectivity below 15 dBZ (stage 1), and convective clouds accompanied by descending echoes corresponding to precipitation (stage 2). During the transition process from stage 1 to stage 2, weak radar echoes rose to the higher level and reflectivity rapidly increased. This phenomenon suggests that drizzle particles produced in a preexisting convective cloud were lifted by a newly developed updraft, and raindrops were formed rapidly by coalescence of the drizzle particles and cloud droplets. This hypothetical process explains the precipitation echo formation in the lower layer frequently observed in the mountainous area in the Kanto region.
- 著者
- Namiko Sakurai Koyuru Iwanami Shingo Shimizu Yasushi Uji Shin-ichi Suzuki Takeshi Maesaka Ken-ichi Shimose Paul R. Krehbiel William Rison Daniel Rodeheffer
- 出版者
- Fuji Technology Press Ltd.
- 雑誌
- Journal of Disaster Research (ISSN:18812473)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.16, no.4, pp.778-785, 2021-06-01 (Released:2021-06-01)
- 参考文献数
- 26
- 被引用文献数
- 3
The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience deployed a lightning mapping array (LMA) in the Tokyo metropolitan area in March 2017. Called the “Tokyo LMA,” it obtains detailed three-dimensional observations of the total lightning activity (cloud-to-ground and intracloud flashes) in storms. The network initially consisted of 8 receiving stations, expanded to 12 stations in March 2018. Real-time total lightning images were first opened on the webpage in Japan. Real-time observations from the Tokyo LMA will be used in nowcasting lightning hazards and mitigating lightning disasters. Archived data will be used to develop lightning prediction techniques and a lightning climatology for the Tokyo metropolitan area.