Milind Sharma

I am a Ph.D. student in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) department at Purdue University, USA. As per NOAA records, severe storms have a great socio-economic impact. In 2017, the total economic loss due to extreme weather events amounted to more than $16 billion with severe storms accounting for a major chunk of this loss. Understanding the severity of such storms is very crucial to ensure minimum damage to the society. Through my dissertation research I aim to understand the relationship between a thunderstorm's severity, electrification (lightning), and the associated cloud microphysical process. The current understanding of tornadogenesis (formation of tornadoes) is limited by the availability of high-resolution (both spatial and temporal) data. My research aims to eliminate this limiting factor by collecting data using cool instruments like phased-array weather radars. In addition to weather radars, I also use data from lightning mapping array (LMA) network which detects the propagation of leader channels in intra-cloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes. I aim to develop better understanding of storm dynamics and microphysics through these datasets. I believe that an improved conceptual model of tornadogenesis would be a great value addition to thunderstorm science.

mail: sharm261@purdue.edu

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