Journal Article

A storm safari in subtropical South America: Proyecto RELAMPAGO

Luna, Lorena Medina, Saulo, Andrea Celeste, Nesbitt, Stephen William, Marquis, James, Marshall, Robert, Machado, Luiz Augusto Toledo, Trapp, Robert J, Carey, Lawrence, Varble, Adam, Avila, Eldo Edgardo, Bechis, Hernán, Zipser, Edward J, Rasmussen, Kristen L, Rowe, Angela K, Grover, Maxwell A, Gochis, David, Wilson, James, de Lima Nascimento, Ernani, Hence, Deanna A, McMurdie, Lynn A, Ruiz, Juan Jose, Bitzer, Phillip, Goodman, Steven, Deierling, Wiebke, Kumjian, Matthew R, Wurman, Joshua, Chandrasekar, V, Garcia Skabar, Yanina, Lang, Timothy, São Sabbas, Eliah F.M.T, Schumacher, Russ S, Dillon, María Eugenia, Salio, Paola Veronica, Kosiba, Karen A, Roberts, Rita, Dominguez, Francina, Auvieux Arias, Gabriel Ivan, Garcia Rodriguez, Carlos Marcelo

2021

Overview

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 Córdoba 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 Córdoba 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.

• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Subject: Climate change / Convection / Data collection / deep convection / Design of experiments / Education / Electrification / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES / Flash flooding / Flash floods / Flooding / Floods / Hail / Hydrometeorology / International cooperation / Lightning / Lightning flashes / Mission planning / Precipitation / Rain / Remote sensing / Satellites / severe storms / Severe weather / Social media / South America / Storms / Tornadoes / Weather / Wildlife tourism / Wind shear