Identification

Title

Retrieving global Wilson currents from electrified clouds using satellite passive microwave observations

Abstract

High-altitude atmospheric electricity measurements have been used to calculate the conduction (Wilson) currents that are supplied to the global electric circuit (GEC) by individual electrified clouds. Quantifying the global average current and assessing its temporal variability is a challenge, however, because it requires measurements in every stormy region of the world. Thus, a retrieval algorithm has been developed to infer the electric fields and Wilson currents above electrified weather from NASA ER-2 passive microwave high-altitude aircraft observations that are also common satellite products.This study documents the adaptation of the passive microwave electric field and the Wilson current retrieval algorithm for use with satellite platforms. Three distinct variants on the algorithm are produced to respond to specific use cases that differ in 1) whether swath or microwave feature data are available to describe the lateral extent of electrified clouds, 2) the availability of coincident radar data to characterize the vertical structure of electrified clouds, and 3) the prioritization of scientific accuracy or computational expense and product latency. The Wilson currents produced by the satellite retrievals are compared with each other and also with coincident lightning measurements and the Carnegie curve. The advantages, caveats, and limitations of each variant are discussed.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7377chd

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2018-07-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact