010615 -- Case Summary 
Flight Times: 2106 - 2406

ANVIL CASE DAY

No attenuation of 74C radar for this case.


010615   decay of anvil-like outflow	


Case 1. long anvil from severe thunderstorm with still active core;

case 2. Anvil from complex of active cells;

Extensive convection with copious lightning from severe thunderstorms

At take off "A/C crew could see the wall cloud near Patrick.

At approx. 1730 a pair of cells NE of KSC near (-50,75) start
producing both IC and CG lightning. 
This convection quickly intensifies and by 1730 the LDAR plots show
almost continuous lightning. By 2000 (the time of the first radar plots)
the storm has produced a stratiform region extending 75 or more km to
the NE of the active cores. The main core is to the SW of the complex
with reflectivities exceeding 55 dBZ at 10 km. The stratiform regions
probably extends from the surface to above 10 km. Between 1900 and 1930
lightning begins to extend into this stratiform region producing larger
areas of lightning, but with the CG lightning remaining back near the
core.

Case 1 
First case was the anvil of a severe thunderstorm extending 125 to 150
km to the NE of the cores. There were two active cores SE of KSC. The
Citation followed the anvil and debris as it drifted to the SE. 
In early passes E fields were very strong then the fields decayed.
This should be a very good case to
follow decay and also to relate E to reflectivity.

At the time of takeoff near 2115 UTC there was an arm of stratiform
debris extending 125 km to the NE. This debris had considerable shear to
the SE especially between 7 and 10 km but also some displacement between
the 4km level (which had patches of 35 to 40 dBZ) and 7 km (which had
very small patches of 25-30 dBZ). Reflectivities were weaker at 10 km.
(~ 15-20 dBZ). 

The Citation took off near
2115 climbs out in this stratiform arm or region. There is considerable
shear between low and mid and upper levels, resulting in an anvil-like
structure extending to the SE with weaker reflectivities at upper
levels. By about 2200 the convection from these original cores is
weakened and then cut off by a long line of intense convectve cells
moving from the West and the lightning in the stratiform region ceases.
But there is copious lightning in the line moving from the West.
The debris of this stratiform arm drifts to the SE and the Citation
follows this debris as both the reflectivity, microphysics and E fields
decay. By the time the Citation leaves this debris near 2250, the E
fields have become quite weak and the largest reflectivities are 10 to
15 dBZ.

Case 2: Stratiform Region Associated with Line Moving from the West
The Citation made E-W passes
from KSC out over the ocean some of which were over the U of Arizona
mobile. These passes appear to be in stratiform-type debris with
embedded convection, but were pretty near regions to the west with very
active lightning. This debris which seems to merge with the remnants of
the first case. 

The western part of the A/C passes through this region
consistently showed strong E fields until the Citation left to return to
PAFB.