Natural Hazards

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03886-0

ORIGINAL PAPER

Thunderstorm dynamics through wind profiling features:

the first observation by stratospheric‑tropospheric radar
of GU

M. Devi1,2   · S. Patgiri1,2 · A. Medhi1 · S. Das1 · M. Saikia1 · A. K. Barbara2 ·

S. S. Kakatkar3 · K. P. Ray4

Received: 22 October 2019 / Accepted: 18 February 2020

© Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract
The wind profiling features received from recently installed stratospheric-tropospheric
(ST) radar of Gauhati University (GU) ( 26.2◦ N, 91.75◦ E) are presented in the paper along
with the validation process of the data by using radiosonde-derived wind parameters. The
final focus of the paper is directed onto the thunderstorm-related changes in wind fields
covering both vertical and composite components. Starting with the seasonal thunderstorm
occurrence character over Guwahati through eight years of observations, the importance of
the work on this meteorologically sensitive subtropical zone is highlighted. For identify-
ing the process of growth of thunderstorm, the magnitudes of updrafts and downdrafts are
extracted from the ST Radar-derived storm-time wind profilings. For evaluation of atmos-
pheric system dynamics, the structure constant Cn2 is calculated through radar Bragg-scat-
tered signals and the resultant modifications induced by the thunderstorm on this parameter
are presented and brought into ambit of discussions. The paper finally identifies the storm-
induced effects in the wind field-derived variabilities, for possible adaptation as inputs for a
thunderstorm predictive model.

Keywords  ST Radar · Wind fields · Thunderstorm · Updraft · Downdraft · Cn2

1 Introduction

One of the significant meteorological parameters that attribute to understanding of the

weather/climate system is the wind. A few features that require continuous monitoring for such
study are the process of development of wind, its mode of propagation, waves and structures
embedded in the wind field. No doubt, with the availability of ground-based and space-borne

* M. Devi
md555gu@gmail.com
1
ST Radar Centre, Gauhati University, Guwahati, India
2
Department of Physics, Gauhati University, Guwahati, India
3
SAMEER, Mumbai, India
4
Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune, India

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state-of-the-art equipments of today, scientists have significantly advanced their knowledge in

understanding wind dynamics in development of monsoon, cyclones, worst weather situations
and thunderstorms. Of these phenomena, the thunderstorm which is basically a local thermal
weather-related event involves very complex physics and dynamics dictated by modulation of
wind structures controlled by local orographic features, pollutants and aerosols (both local and
transported) along with dry and hot moisture-laden winds from land and sea.
In brief, the necessary conditions for the growth of such storms are (i) the presence of suf-
ficient temperature, (ii) plenty of moisture from lower to mid-level of the troposphere, (iii)
development of lifting mechanisms and (iv) a conducive system for growth of instability.
In these backgrounds, the first three states of the atmosphere need to be addressed primar-
ily because such situations dictate the process of development of instability by the potentially
non-equilibrium status created when dry parcel of air overlies a moist warm ambience due
to air currents that trigger the lifting mechanism. The consequent result is in enhancement of
unstable situation as the heavier air moves down under the gravitational field and the lighter
material is further displaced upward generating an updraft. Warm air rises by this draft to a
level where condensations and precipitations start to develop, resulting in creation of a mass
of cold-dense air which moves as downdraft to the ground. This process releases potential
energy; thus, more energy is available for supporting storm activities, and finally, respective
magnitudes of updraft and downdraft processes lead to thunderstorms of different categories.
At present, quite a significant volume of reports on thunderstorm activities is available for
understanding structural information of storms (Weisman and Klemp 1986; Williams 1989)
or cell dynamics by associating up/downdrafts with hails, their size and intensity (Donaldson
et  al. 1965; Browning 1965). Further, related studies on electrification and precipitation as
well as on waves generated during thunderstorms have been dealt by many workers around the
globe (Byers and Braham 1949; Larsen et al. 1982; Bowhill and Gnanalingam 1986; Bluestein
and Woodall 1990; Manohar et al. 1999; Hansen et al. 2002; Bunkers et al. 2006; Kirkpat-
rick and McCaul 2009). These observations, based on data from multi-disciplinary facilities
and instruments like mesospheric-stratospheric-tropospheric (MST) radar, middle and upper
atmosphere (MU) radar, stratospheric-tropospheric (ST) radar, balloon and aircrafts equipped
with necessary sensors, have offered the latitudinal as well as longitudinal variations in occur-
rence character of storms and their dynamics. However, to understand generation process of
thunderstorm especially over this subtropical humid climate zone with complex orography
where the present study is conducted needs further inputs because of the absence of qual-
ity data for such analysis. The main aim of this work is thus to analyze atmospheric system
dynamics during thunderstorm events by presenting storm-induced features in the wind profil-
ing received from ST Radar of Gauhati University (GU) and to adopt these features as possible
precursor inputs in future storm predictive models. This is the first result from the ST Radar
of GU of the northeast (NE) region of India, and the analysis is based on high-resolution data
both in temporal and spatial modes.

2 Observations and analysis

2.1 Thunderstorm: seasonal character over Guwahati

Thunderstorm over Guwahati is basically a pre-monsoon (March to May), i.e., vernal equi-
noxial phenomenon (Devi et  al. 2016) with relatively low occurrence frequency during
summer monsoon (June to mid-August) and autumnal equinoxial season (post-monsoon

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months covering mid-August to October), as displayed in Fig.  1, by analyzing six years

of observational data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) of Guwahati. Such
enhancements of thunder activities during pre-monsoon months of March to May over the
latitudinal belt from 8◦N–30◦ N were also reported by Manohar et  al. (1999), in a study
of 10 years of average seasonal thunderstorm activity from 1970–1980. Another signifi-
cant aspect of the thunder lightning character over our study region is high occurrence of
Cloud–Ground flashes, (code “0”) relative to Cloud–Cloud flashes (code “1”) (Fig. 2a). As
the code “0” of lightning discharges release relatively high energy (Fig. 2b), the devasta-
tions caused by such events could easily be realized. The paper thus aims at to extract the
thunderstorm-induced features in the wind profiling received from ST Radar of GU and
to analyze the observed results in understanding of the storm-time atmospheric dynamics.

2.2 Observations of wind parameters from ST Radar of GU: A few general features

The sensitivity and resolution of the measured wind parameters are dictated by configura-
tions of the radar system. A brief description of the ST Radar of GU is thus presented first,
before the wind characters received from the system are brought into analysis and discus-
sion. This VHF ST Radar operated at 212 MHz is configured as distributed active aperture
phased array radar for sounding the atmosphere from lower troposphere to heights beyond
tropopause. In brief, this radar consists of 576-member Yagi–Uda antenna array, with the
major subsystems composed of:
(i) exciter, (ii) radar controller (RC) , time signal generator (TSG) and digital signal pro-
cessor (DSP), (iii) trans–receiving module (TRM) and (iv) antenna array, feeder network
along with Controller Area Network (CAN) controller and synchronizating (sync) pulse
distribution.
The block diagram of the setup is shown in Fig. 3.
One of the main units of the radar system is the exciter that generates RF signal of
212 MHz which is triggered by a clock of 10 MHz from an oven-controlled crystal oscil-
lator (OCXO).The modulating signal (Tx) from TSG is fed to the exciter for generating
an amplified 212  MHz pulse modulated waves of varying width from 0.5 to 64 μs and
duty cycle of 0.5–10% . A cascading of solid-state amplifier unit in the TRM enhances the

Fig. 1  Thunderstorm seasonal
occurrence event over Guwahati:
6 years of analyses. Pre-monsoon
season consists of vernal equi-
noxial months of March, April
and May; monsoon covers June,
July to mid-August, and post-
monsoon season covers mid-
August, September and October

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Fig. 2  Displays representative feature on Cloud–Ground (C–G, code “0”) and Cloud–Cloud (C–C, code
“1”) flash, over Guwahati: a magnitude of discharge energy and b percentage of occurrences of respective
flashes

strength of RF modulated signal to 400W peak power, which is finally transmitted to the
atmosphere through the 576 antenna array. Based on Doppler beam swing (DBS) tech-
nique, transmitted antenna beam is divided into groups and the profilings of wind vectors

Fig. 3  Block diagram of the ST Radar setup of GU, with different subsystems

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are obtained in five directions, i.e., north, south, east, west and zenith. A 6-bit digital phase
shifter with the resolution of 5.625◦ is placed inside each TRM to steer the beams by ±15◦
in the zenith and 360◦ in the azimuth for transmitting signals both in vertical and off-ver-
tical modes. The Bragg-scattered echoes from these beams are then received by TRM (in
receiving mode) and fed to the DSP unit of radar controller after processing through the
band-pass filter and a low-noise amplifier (LNA).The LNA output is then applied to the
digital receiver where a digital down converter (DDC) unit shifts the transmitted frequency
to the base band I and Q signals for extraction of first three primary outputs, i.e., signal
power, Doppler shift and spectral width which are further formatted to moment data and to
wind components. The final wind products are provided in user-friendly format. The prob-
ing ranges of the radar are from 300 m to 5 km (in lower mode) and 3 to 25 km (in higher
mode), i.e., covering altitudes from troposphere to lower stratosphere. Table 1 summarizes
a few basic features of the radar. For maintaining coordination between all the trans/receiv-
ing processes, the sync pulses are produced in the TSG unit which are applied to each TR
module. On receipt of such sync pulse from the sync distribution module, the controller
unit within each TRM generates a timing signal for its own trans/receiving operation. Fur-
ther, a CAN protocol is used, to establish the interface between TRM and radar controller.
The antenna area is surrounded by hilly terrain. The bird eye view of the facility is pre-
sented in Fig. 4, along with the location of the ST radar centre in the global map.

2.3 Wind profiling features obtained from ST Radar of GU

To derive the wind profiling, the process of analysis starts as discussed above with the
time series data received from radar Bragg-scattered signals in the N–S, E–W, zenith direc-
tion, which are converted to spectral mode and then to moments from where zonal (u),
meridional (v) and vertical (w) wind vectors are extracted. Finally, composite wind field is
derived from these components.
The radar-obtained wind profilings are then compared with those from radiosonde
observations of IMD, Guwahati, to assess the reliability of the radar data. The prime
aim of this work being extraction of thunder-time wind features, our analysis here starts
with wind data for vernal equinoxial months, as thunderstorm occurrence over Guwa-
hati is seasonal with maximum in that period of the year. We thus present in Fig. 5 the

Table 1  Displays the output Sl. no. Parameter Specification

features from the system
1. Operating frequency 212 ± 2 MHz
2. Bandwidth 4 MHz
3. Peak power 240 KW
4. Peak power aperture 9 × 107 W m2
5. Duty cycle 0.5%–10%
6. Antenna operating mode Doppler beam swinging
7. Height coverage Lower mode:
300 m–5 km
Higher mode: 3–25 km
8. Height resolution Lower mode: 75 m
Higher mode: 300 m
9. Vertical wind velocity 0.1077–30 m/s
10. Horizontal wind velocity 1–135 m/s

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Fig. 4  Bird eye view of the ST Radar site of GU with antenna, control room and subhuts and also shown
the location of the ST Radar Centre in global map

average quiet-day composite wind profiles of vernal equinoxial months of 2019 received
from the ST Radar as well as from radiosonde. The bar provides the standard deviation
of ST Radar data from its mean value. To maintain comparability between the profiles,
altitude resolution of both the sets of data is kept at 150 m. The overall synchronization
in wind speed variations along the altitudes as displayed in Fig. 5 by the profiles pro-
vides the reliability of the radar-derived parameters.

Fig. 5  Average vernal equinoxial composite wind profile of 2019 from ST Radar (shown by red) and radio-
sonde (black line). Green bar indicates standard deviation of ST Radar data

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2.3.1 Wind profiling character during thunderstorm

Once the data reliability from ST Radar is ascertained, we present here the wind charac-
ters of the first thunderstorm event of the year 2019 at Guwahati, on March 26, as a case
study. The operational parameters of the radar during this event are:
(i) Pulse width 16μs , (ii) PRF 5000 Hz , (iii) IPP 200 𝜇sec , (iv) No. of coherent inte-
gration 64, (v) No. of incoherent integration 20, (vi) No. of FFT point 256.
The storm was a short-lived event that started at 1330 hrs and died down within
30 minutes. All the five components of wind vectors along with the composite wind
speed, the growth processes of up/downdrafts and modifications in wind stream near
to the tropopause are analyzed for this event. We start our presentation with the com-
posite wind speed observed prior to (Fig. 6a, b), during (Fig. 6c) and after (Fig. 6d) the
storm event. Each presented window is about 1 hour with 9/10 frames approximately of
5/6-minute duration. The profiles show that at the altitude of 10km, the maximum wind
speed of around 50–60 m/s that was prevailing prior to and after the storm had under-
gone wide fluctuations during the event period and within each frame of 5/6 minutes the
speed varied from 30–40 m/s to 1–2 m/s at the same altitude indicating violent changes
in wind speed caused by the storm. The wind status at 1400  hrs, i.e., after the event,
returned back to the situation prevailing prior to the storm. The Doppler spectra of wind
also reflected signatures of strong modifications in received frequency components

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig. 6  Composite wind speed: a, b before, c during and d after the storm event of March 26, 2019

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during the storm (Fig.  7b) period, compared to the ones observed in quiet-day status
(Fig. 7a).

2.3.2 Measurement of up/downdraft

A thunderstorm is generally initiated by updraft followed by downdraft, and it is therefore

essential to examine growth of up/downdraft situations during this event and to estimate
their magnitudes. The vertical wind vectors being the potential carriers of this signature,
the profiles are examined from two hours before to one hour after the storm of March 26
and are shown in Fig.  8. One can identify from these figures that the quiet-time vertical
wind status prior to the storm (Fig. 8a, b, c) became chaotic with the commencement of the
thunder (Fig. 8d) leading to the growth of up- and downdrafts. Analysis of each frame indi-
cates that the downdraft followed the updraft just before the commencement of the thun-
derstorm; more detailed discussions on these aspects are presented in the next article. The
wind pattern returned to the quiet-time status after the event (Fig. 8e).

2.3.3 Vertical Velocity status prior to, during and after the thunderstorm of March 26,

2019

The growth and magnitudes of up/downdrafts being the source of input energy to trigger
the basic processes of development of a thunder and vertical velocity being the important
diagnostic field associated with such event, in Fig. 9, the 3D temporal variations of verti-
cal wind speed before, during and after the thunderstorm covering an altitude range from
3 to 10  km are shown. The spatiotemporal scenario around 3 hours before the thunder-
storm offered a normal and calm wind with an average updraft of 7 m/s at 10 km altitude
(Fig.  9a), but modification in wind field was seen 2 hours before the storm, when struc-
tures (relatively strong wind speed zone embedded in normal background) of 150 m up to
600–700 m developed with enhanced updraft strength of 11 m/s (Fig. 9b). However, one
hour before the growth of the storm, the updraft strength decreases (Fig.  9c) and inter-
estingly developed a strong downdraft of 15  m/s (Fig.  9d). On passing of the event, the
pre-thunder-time flow pattern had reappeared (Fig. 9e) with disappearance of strong down-
drafts along with the embedded structures. The analysis thus shows the presence of three
basis features as inputs to the process of development of the thunderstorm which are (i)
growth of structures in the atmospheric ambience, (ii) moderate updraft followed by (iii)
strong downdraft.

2.3.4 Composite wind field pattern

In order to determine the thunderstorm-induced signature if any, in the composite

wind components, an analysis similar to that of vertical wind field is conducted, and in
Fig. 10, such profiles for March 26th, 2019, are displayed for different windows start-
ing from 3 hours before to one hour after the storm event. The figure demonstrates
how wind field undergoes modification with the approach of the thunderstorm from
its normal flow pattern (Fig.  10a).The figure also provides the track record of the
development of wind structures (Fig. 10b) with overall decrease in peak wind velocity
(Fig. 10c and d). The velocity change was so significant that during the storm period
its peak value near to the tropopause had come down to 5–6m/s from 50 to 60 m/s that
prevailed during no storm situation. Along with the modulation in the speed, wind

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Fig. 7  Doppler spectra from ST Radar received a on a quiet day and b during the storm of March 26, 2019

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)
Fig. 8  Vertical wind speed from ST Radar: a, b, c before, d during and e after the storm event of March 26,
2019

flow direction had also undergone significant changes. Figure 11 shows how a steady
southerly wind flow to this zone had changed its course to westerly and northwesterly
with the approach of the storm and then returned to its prestorm flow direction after
the passing of the event. The decrease in the maximum wind speed along with the
changes in wind direction is also clearly seen in the figure. Such changes in wind field
(both vertical and composite components) are no doubt the resultant of modification in
atmospheric dynamics related to the instability of the system. The magnitudes of such

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)
Fig. 9  3D temporal variations of vertical wind speed from ST Radar: a, b, c before, d during and e after the
storm event of March 26, 2019

instability could act as a pointer to the trigger threshold of a storm (Van den and Cot-
ton 2004; McCaul and Cohen 2004; Cohen and McCaul 2006).Thus to determine insta-
bility status, application of associated atmospheric parameter may act as diagnostic
tool. Here, structure constant Cn2 , an index involved with atmospheric turbulence spec-
tra, might therefore provide inputs for understanding such storm-time environments

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)
Fig. 10  Peak composite wind speed near tropopause obtained from ST Radar: a, b, c before, d during and e
after the storm of March 26

through distributions of sizes of eddies in energy transfer to the atmosphere. There-

fore, an analysis of this parameter with the growth of the thunderstorm event of March
26, 2019, is presented in the next article.

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(a)

(b)
Fig. 11  Composite wind speed: a, b before, c during and d after the storm event of March 26, 2019

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3 Turbulent eddies and thunderstorm

3.1 Structure constant parameter as an index of growth of thunderstorm

The structure constant parameter ( Cn2 ) is controlled by fundamental meteorological vari-

abilities like temperature, pressure and specific humidity as defined in Eq. 1 (Tatarskii
1971) and Eq. 2:
4

Cn2 = a2 𝛼 ∕ l03 M 2 (1)

where a2 is a dimensionless constant within 1.5 and 3.5, but usually taken as 2.8 (Monin
and Yaglom 1971), 𝛼 ∕ is a numerical constant generally taken as unity, l0 is the buoyancy/
outer scale length of the turbulence spectrum and M is the vertical gradient of potential
refractive index fluctuations. This gradient is expressed as

⎡ ⎧ ⎞⎫⎤
� �� d ln 𝜃 �⎢ ⎛ d ln q
P −6 T 15500 ⎪ 1 ⎜ dz ⎟⎪ ⎥
⎢1 + T ⎨1 − (2)
⎟⎬ ⎥
M = −77.6 × 10
T dz ⎢ ⎪ 2 ⎜ d ln 𝜃T
⎣ ⎩ ⎝ dz ⎠⎪
⎭⎦
⎥

where T is the ambient temperature in K, P is the pressure, q is the specific humidity, Z is

the height in meter, 𝜃T is the potential temperature given as
[ ]0.3
P
𝜃T = T 0
P

where P0 is the standard atmospheric pressure.

Thus, Cn2 values are calculated by Eqs.  1 and 2 using data from radiosonde over
Guwahati. As an additional definition, Cn2 has a direct relation with volume reflectivity
𝜂 obtained from radar Bragg-scattered signal. We thus have a special advantage of cal-
culating Cn2 values from (i) meteorological variabilities through radiosonde observations
and (ii) ST Radar volume reflectivity, finally to establish the reliability of radar data
in derivation of structure constant values so that atmospheric turbulence status can be
obtained even in the absence of radiosonde data, which are generally available twice a
day only.
For this approach (ii), structure constant is calculated from radar Eq. 5 after substi-
tuting volume refractivity 𝜂 of Eq. 3 by Cn2 of Eq. 4. Equation 5 represents a quantitative
relation between radar system parameters including trans–receiving loss with signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR), at a particular range “R,” i.e., SNR can be calculated at a range “R”
when all other radar parameters are known for a particular system. In our case, the SNR
magnitudes are available from ST Radar Bragg-scattered data for different range bins
and radar constants being known, Cn2 was calculated by Eq. 5.

P(t)A(e)Fc𝜏 2 𝛼(t)𝛼(r)𝜂
SNR = √ (3)
16 2𝜋r2 k{T(S) + 𝛼(R) + T(C)}

where P(t) is the transmitted power (W), A(e) the effective antenna area ( m2 ), c the veloc-
ity of light ( m∕s ), 𝜏 the pulse width (s), 𝛼(t) the transmit path loss factor, 𝛼(r) the receive
path loss factor, F the receiver filter loss, R the range (m), k Boltzmann’s constant, T(s) the

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system temperature (K), T(c) the cosmic noise temperature (K), 𝜂 the volume reflectivity
which is defined in terms of Cn2 by Eq. 4:
1
𝜂 = 0.38𝜆−( 3 ) Cn2 (4)

where 𝜆 is the radar wavelength (m) and Cn2 is the structure constant, as already defined.
1
P(t)A(e)Fc𝜏 2 𝛼(t)𝛼(r)0.38𝜆−( 3 ) Cn2
SNR = √ (5)
16 2𝜋r2 K{T(S) + 𝛼(R) + T(C)}

The structure constant values calculated at different heights by using Eq. 5 were then
compared with those obtained from radiosonde data (Eq.  1). As a representative case,
Fig. 12 shows these two profiles for a quiet day of March 8, 2019. The similar values of
2 2
Cn2 , i.e., −12 ( m− 3)/−13 ( m− 3 ) at the height of 2–3 km and then their gradual decrease
2 2
to reach a minimum of −16(m− 3)/−16.5 ( m− 3 ) at 8–10  km as received from both the
equations (Fig. 12), further strengthen reliability of ST Radar-derived structure constant
values, and thus, Eq. 5 might be adopted at any temporal situation for derivation of Cn2
provided radar parameters remained invariant. The ST Radar-derived structure constant
for quiet-day profiles is then viewed in 3D format (Fig. 13) where one can have better
spatiotemporal modulations of turbulence spectra compared with those from Fig.  12.
Thus, Cn2 profiles will be presented in this mode in all future displays.

Fig. 12  log(Cn2 ) profiles of quiet day (March 8, 2019) obtained from ST Radar and radiosonde

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Fig. 13  3D views of log(Cn2 ) of a quiet day obtained from ST Radar

3.2 
C2n features during thunderstorm

The structure constant features for March 26 derived from Eq. 5 and viewed in 3D format
are then presented in Fig. 14. It is apparent that with the approach of the storm, the struc-
2 2
ture sizes began to change and their magnitude increased from -13 ( m− 3 ) / -14 ( m− 3 ) to -12
2
( m− 3 ) (Fig. 14b, c) at the lower altitudes of 3–4 km (Fig. 14a), and remarkably, this feature
of Cn2 had spread all along the altitudes up to 8/9 km during the duration of the storm event
(Fig. 14d), except for the period of downdraft (1330 hrs–1350 hrs, see Fig. 9d) when the
2
Cn2 magnitudes came down to -13 ( m− 3 ) and gradually returned to earlier prestorm stage
(Fig.  14e). The result is a strong evidence that structure constants had undergone wide
modifications both in sizes and in altitude-distribution pattern with the approach of the
thunderstorm event.

4 Discussion

Development processes of a thunderstorm depend on scale of instabilities in the atmos-

pheric system which are well reflected in growth of up- and downdrafts in the wind field.
Statistical distributions of storm-time updraft and downdraft were reported by many work-
ers around the globe (Byers and Braham 1949; Gray 1965; LeMone and Zipser 1980; Jor-
gensen et al. 1985; Jorgensen and LeMone 1989; Lucas et al. 1994a; Krisnamurthy 1965;
Mukherjee and Bhattacharjee 1972; Joseph et al. 1980), where differences in the draft sta-
tus and dynamics of thunderstorms between tropical, subtropical and high latitude were
brought out. Along with such information, it is essential to identify the type of storms spe-
cially between pulse and squall types. The pulse storms, also known as single-cell storms,

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)

Fig. 14  3D log(Cn2 ) feature on March 26, 2019, obtained from ST Radar: a, b, c before, d during and e after
the storm

do not produce a severe weather condition and usually last for 20–30 minutes. On the other
hand, squall types associated with multi-cell lines of storms may lead to a sequence of
stormy weather lasting for several hours. The wind features of the storm of March 26 with
moderate to strong updraft followed by a sharp downdraft (Fig.  8 and Fig.  9) lasted not

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more than half an hour and the storm started with vertical wind shear, identifying itself
with pulse category. Role of vertical wind shear on thunderstorms over a tropical Indian
station was also presented by Chaudhari et al. (2010). Weisman and Klemp (1982; 1984)
had demonstrated how numerically simulated convective storms are dependent on vertical
wind shear. Our study shows that the resultant formation of striated wind structures and
simultaneous enhancement in size of Cn2 that preceded the growth of turbulent vortices with
increase in mixing height are significant features associated with the triggering of the thun-
derstorm along with up/downdraft.
The energy for such prestorm updraft being provided by hot ground, these storms gener-
ally develop during warm afternoon hours. We had also noted an abnormal rise in tempera-
ture by more than 3 ◦ C at 07:15 hrs (Fig. 15) around the ST Radar site on March 26, though
this increase might not be a supportive input to the development of a thunderstorm after
5 hours, still the increase in temperature was interesting, because environmental tempera-
ture affects the process of development of updraft strength (McCaul et al. 2005). Addition-
ally, environmental conditions and the storm updraft association also were focused upon by
many workers (Cohen and McCaul 2006; Alderman and Droegemeier 2005).
The role of humidity in growth of structure size during thunderstorm period could not
be ruled out as there was an abrupt increase in humidity prior to the storm event as seen
from the vertical humidity profiles received from ARIS satellite ( 1◦ resolution) over Guwa-
hati (Fig. 16a). This sharp enhancement of humidity at 3–4 km on March 26 that comes as
250% from the average quiet-day value of this month (Fig. 16b) also supports the develop-
ment of one of the favorable conditions for growth of a thunderstorm. This accumulation
of water content at 4 km height is likely to be fed by strong westerly component of wind on
this day (Fig. 17a) transporting water-laden air along the sub-Himalayan track to the study
zone as received by back-trajectory analysis (Fig. 17a) and supported by global precipita-
tion map (Fig. 17b) displaying the presence of precipitation at the wind trajectory as well
as at the ST Radar site. Such wet air mass while traversing through the sub-Himalayan aer-
osol populated belt (more significant in vernal equinoxial month, Fig. 18) might bring such
particle along with the water content. The presence of aerosol is essential for the growth or
inhibition of thunder- or rain-bearing cloud through formation of cloud condensed nuclei

Fig. 15  Temporal variation of
temperature near ST Radar site
on days before, during and after
the storm day of March 26, 2019.
Note an increase in temperature
by more than 3 ◦ C in the morning
hours of thunder day (March 26).
The low in temperature during
the afternoon hours of this day
was the effect of thunder-associ-
ated precipitation

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(a) (b)

Fig. 16  a The vertical humidity profiles received from Aires over Guwahati for March 26 (red line) com-
pared to quiet-day equinoxial average profile (black line) and b percentage variation in humidity on March
26, with respect to equinoxial quiet-day average value

Fig. 17  a Strong westerly component of wind on March 26 (HYSPLIT back trajectory model) toward ST
Radar site and b the presence of precipitation on this day along the wind trajectory (global precipitation
map ) as well as at the ST Radar location

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Fig. 18  Displays MODIS AOD data with growth of strong aerosol layer in the vernal equinoxial month in
the sub-Himalayan range that extend to any region of India

(CCN) of special size (Mircea et al. 2002; Hobbs 1993; Williams et al. 1999). The small
size of cloud droplet suppresses the coagulation activities and thereby inhibiting surface
precipitation and hence more cloud droplets are available for reaching ice level (Rosenfeld
et al. 2008; Tao et al. 2012). This process triggers the formation of hail which further acts
in releasing more latent heat, thereby promoting the growth process of thunderstorm. The
size of distant aerosols as in the present case gets reduced while traversing a long path
compared to those from local sources (Devi et al. 2016). Thus, our analysis here supports
that aerosol-laden wet wind from the west traveling more than 1500 km acts as one of the
inputs in triggering thunderstorm under the background of favorable local environment.

5 Conclusion

The first result from ST Radar of GU shows modification in wind field with distinct devel-
opment of updraft followed by a strong downdraft just before the onset of the storm event.
Such results could be adopted to identify the type of thunderstorm, as discussed. The struc-
ture constant parameters, which were derived both from ST Radar and radiosonde observa-
tions, indicate that Cn2 values derived from Bragg-scattered signal from the radar are relia-
ble and being available at all temporal situations (unlike radiosonde observation) and might
be used as a strong source input for understanding fast changes in atmospheric dynamics
before a thunderstorm. The increase in Cn2 sizes hours before such an event can perhaps be
used as a precursive feature along with the development of shears. The wet air mass from

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west as far as from 80◦ E along the sub-Himalayan belt has a role to play in the generation
of thunderstorm supported by hot/humid background. The maximum wind speed near to
the tropopause slows down before a thunderstorm, partly due to convective situation lead-
ing to efficient mixing. The determination of shear speed and size will be the future work
along with the role of thunderstorm in the modification of wind flow status at the planetary
boundary layer (PBL) height.

Acknowledgements  The authors acknowledge with thanks the SAMEER Mumbai for full supports in radar
system development, the RMC Guwahati for providing radiosonde data and MeitY, Govt. of India and Gov-
ernment of Assam, for providing financial support in creating the infrastructure facility. Balloon launching
support from the NESAC Meghalaya is duly acknowledged with thanks.

Compliance with ethical standards 

Conflict of interest  The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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