Thunderstorm Electrification by the Inductive Charging Mechanism:II. Possible Effects of Updraft on the Charge Separation Process

Abstract

There is evidence that the inductive charging process is likely to be efficient in regions of the cloud that contain relatively high concentrations of large ice particles (graupel, hail, etc.) and small ice particles or supercooled droplets, but not in regions where only liquid drops are present. Because of these spatial limitations the transport of charge centers by updrafts can be expected to affect the direction and effciency of the inductive charge transfer process. On the basis of some qualitative arguments we come to the following conclusions. 1) updrafts are necessary for the inductive charge separation process to be efficient, and 2) this charge separation mechanism need not always produce a bipolar charge distribution with the positive charge center above the negative charge center, but that in the presence of strong updrafts the negative charge center may extend all the way to the cloud top.