A storm safari in subtropical South America: Proyecto RELAMPAGO

This article provides an overview of the experimental design, execution, education and public outreach, data collection, and initial scientific results from the Remote Sensing of Electrification, Lightning, and Mesoscale/Microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations (RELAMPAGO) field campaign. RELAMPAGO was a major field campaign conducted in the Cordoba and Mendoza provinces in Argentina and western Rio Grande do Sul State in Brazil in 2018-19 that involved more than 200 scientists and students from the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. This campaign was motivated by the physical processes and societal impacts of deep convection that frequently initiates in this region, often along the complex terrain of the Sierras de Cordoba and Andes, and often grows rapidly upscale into dangerous storms that impact society. Observed storms during the experiment produced copious hail, intense flash flooding, extreme lightning flash rates, and other unusual lightning phenomena, but few tornadoes. The five distinct scientific foci of RELAMPAGO-convection initiation, severe weather, upscale growth, hydrometeorology, and lightning and electrification-are described, as are the deployment strategies to observe physical processes relevant to these foci. The campaign's international cooperation, forecasting efforts, and mission planning strategies enabled a successful data collection effort. In addition, the legacy of RELAMPAGO in South America, including extensive multinational education, public outreach, and social media data gathering associated with the campaign, is summarized.

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Author Nesbitt, S. W.
Salio, P. V.
Ávila, E.
Bitzer, P.
Carey, L.
Chandrasekar, V.
Deierling, Wiebke
Dominguez, F.
Dillon, M. E.
Garcia, C. M.
Gochis, David
Goodman, S.
Hence, D. A.
Kosiba, K. A.
Kumjian, M. R.
Lang, T.
Medina Luna, Lorena
Marquis, J.
Marshall, R.
McMurdie, L. A.
de Lima Nascimento, E.
Rasmussen, K. L.
Roberts, Rita
Rowe, A. K.
Ruiz, J. J.
São Sabbas, E. F.
Saulo, A. C.
Schumacher, R. S.
Skabar, Y. G.
Toledo Machado, L. A.
Trapp, R. J.
Varble, A. C.
Wilson, James W.
Wurman, J.
Zipser, E. J.
Arias, I.
Bechis, H.
Grover, M. A.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2021-08-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
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Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2025-07-11T16:13:03.908110
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:25161
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Nesbitt, S. W., Salio, P. V., Ávila, E., Bitzer, P., Carey, L., Chandrasekar, V., Deierling, Wiebke, Dominguez, F., Dillon, M. E., Garcia, C. M., Gochis, David, Goodman, S., Hence, D. A., Kosiba, K. A., Kumjian, M. R., Lang, T., Medina Luna, Lorena, Marquis, J., Marshall, R., McMurdie, L. A., de Lima Nascimento, E., Rasmussen, K. L., Roberts, Rita, Rowe, A. K., Ruiz, J. J., São Sabbas, E. F., Saulo, A. C., Schumacher, R. S., Skabar, Y. G., Toledo Machado, L. A., Trapp, R. J., Varble, A. C., Wilson, James W., Wurman, J., Zipser, E. J., Arias, I., Bechis, H., Grover, M. A.. (2021). A storm safari in subtropical South America: Proyecto RELAMPAGO. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7cn77fg. Accessed 01 August 2025.

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