Recent Projects
We continue to analyze data from the
Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) conducted
in 2000. A study has been published of a
lightning discharge that propagated in front of the aircraft showing good
agreement in location and electrical characteristics between the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology lightning mapping array and the optical and
electrical sensors on the aircraft.
Warner, Tom A., John H. Helsdon, Jr., and Andrew
G. Detwiler, 2003: Aircraft observations
of a lightning channel in STEPS. Geophys. Res. Lettr., 30(19), 1984, doi:10.1029/2003/GRL017334
A second publication recently appeared:
Mo Q., A. G. Detwiler, J. H. Helsdon, W. P.
Winn, G. Aulich, W. C. Murray, 2007: Hydrometeor charges observed below an
electrified cloud using a new instrument, J. Geophys. Res., 112,
D13207, doi:10.1029/2006JD007809.
Staff continue studies of storms that occurred on June 11 and 29. Students Meagan Holm and Jason Goehring completed M.S. theses on storms observed on June 3 and 19. For each of these storms, lightning activity and inferred charge distributions within the storms were compared to storm dynamic and microphysical evolution. Student Matt Beals surveyed a severe storm investigation conducted on June 22 while developing software for archiving aircraft data and providing immediate access through a web page interface.
Additional observations obtained in
the summers of 2002 and 2003 are also being analyzed. A technique was developed
to monitor nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in thunderstorms using an inexpensive
NO analyzer. Observations of strong NO signals obtained when a lightning
discharge was triggered by the aircraft on June 1, and when there was a
discharge near the aircraft on June 10, in the
Current Activities
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
removed the armored T-28 from its Lower Atmospheric Observing Facilities pool
of research facilities early in 2004. The T-28 research group at SDSMT with the
Earth Observing Laboratory at NCAR is organizing 16 years of field data and
developing an on-line data archive. The aircraft is being moved to the
Strategic Air and
A collaborative proposal has been submitted to NSF by the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) at the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School, and SDSMT to obtain, modify, and operate an A-10 aircraft as a storm-penetrating research aircraft facility that serve the atmospheric research community. It is hoped that the U. S. Air Force will transfer an A-10 to CIRPAS in late 2009 at which time modifications and alterations can begin if plans proceed and funding is granted.
An open
workshop was convened in
Additional information on historical activities related to operations of
the SDSMT armored T-28 storm-penetrating aircraft can be found at http://www.ias.sdsmt.edu/institute/t28/
.
Last
update 02