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Scientists Across U.S. Launch Study of Thunderstorm Impacts on Upper Atmosphere

Released: 5/1/2012 11:00 AM EDT
Source: National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

DC3 Experiment
Photo courtesy of UCAR

Newswise — BOULDER--Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other organizations are targeting thunderstorms in Alabama, Colorado, and Oklahoma this spring to discover what happens when clouds suck air up from Earth’s surface many miles into the atmosphere.

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) experiment, which begins the middle of this month, will explore the influence of thunderstorms on air just beneath the stratosphere, a little-explored region that influences Earth’s climate and weather patterns. Scientists will use three research aircraft, mobile radars, lightning mapping arrays, and other tools to pull together a comprehensive picture.

“We tend to associate thunderstorms with heavy rain and lightning, but they also shake things up at the top of cloud level,” says NCAR scientist Chris Cantrell, a DC3 principal  investigator. “Their impacts high in the atmosphere have effects on climate that last long after the storm dissipates.”

Read full story from NCAR Newswise