Digitized Honors Theses (2002-2017)

Date of Award

5-2016

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

BS

Department

Earth Science

Faculty Mentor

Wesley Terwey, Ph.D.

Advisor(s)

Keith Blackwell, Ph.D., Steven Schultz, Ph.D.

Abstract

Severe weather events affect millions of people around the world each year. In the United States, supercells are responsible for the majority of loss of life and property. Understanding the processes that affect the strength of the supercell as well as the formation of tornadoes would greatly increase warning time that would help save many lives. One process that is known to affect supercells is the merging of different cells. This research looks at the effect that merging cells has on the strength of supercells. In this research, two main types of mergers will be analyzed: supercell/supercell mergers and ordinary convection/supercell mergers. Understanding how these merging events influence the strength of supercells could allow for meteorologists to be more certain about the impacts communities in the path of the storm will see. This project will also look at a very preliminary study into how the movement of ordinary convection relative to the supercells they are merging with correlates with the supercells intensity change.

Comments

© 2016 Adam Olivier ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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