Low-level curvature shear and supercell thunderstorm behavior

Tornadoes pose threats to lives and property, and accurately issuing warnings of their occurrence represents a challenge to operational meteorologists. One tool that will become increasingly important in responding to this challenge is Doppler radar which is used to detect rotation over several kilometers within thunderstorms in a region known as the mesocyclone. Preliminary studies indicate the use of Doppler radar to issue tornado warnings based on mid-level mesocyclones yields a 50% false alarm rate, indicating that only half of storms with strong mid-level rotation have strong low-level rotation. Recent observational and theoretical work has implied that a possible discriminating factor between storms that have strong low-level rotation and those that do not is the amount of storm-relative curvature shear in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Atmospheric Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Brooks, Harold Edward

Contributors dc:contributor

• Wilhelmson, Robert B.

• Physics, Atmospheric Science

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1990 Brooks, Harold Edward

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9114183
(UMI)AAI9114183

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20165