Thunderstorm Researcher: In Search of Lightning and Thunder

How do thunderstorms occur? In order to better answer this question, meteorologists are doing research in the field. With drones and laser measuring devices, they mainly measure wind conditions.

Usually meteorologist Daniel Klocke sits in front of his computer in Hamburg and develops weather models. But now the researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology is in the field. From May to August, on the flat land southeast of Berlin, he and many other experts try to track down “cold pools”.

“Cold pools” are cold, heavy air masses that are created when heavy rainfall rains down. When this cold air sinks to the ground, it spreads in a circle and can trigger new thunderstorms. “We want to collect information about the formation of these new thunderstorms with a wide variety of measuring instruments,” explains Klocke. “Also to check whether my models stand up to reality.”

Drones as helpers

Today it should be drones that provide new knowledge – especially about wind conditions. They measure wind strength, wind direction and temperature. Together with a team from the German Aerospace Center, around 20 drones are made ready for take-off.

They are started in a short rain break. They hover next to each other at a height of 90 meters and collect data there. The researchers concentrate on their work. In an emergency, pilots can intervene with their remote controls. Otherwise the computer has specified the flight paths.

The battery lasts for a quarter of an hour. As if nailed to one another, the drones remain in the air. The parallel measurement is important for the researchers. It supplements the data from the measuring tower next to it, which can only collect information at a single point, but at different heights. As soon as one group of drones has collected its data, the next are sent into the air.

The so-called boundary layer is of particular interest to scientists. The area that connects the atmosphere to the ground. The crew went to Lindenberg because obstacles such as houses, trees or mountains were disturbing. The conditions here are ideal. Only the thunderstorms are missing.

Airplane and laser gauges

The next day it rains again. The drops fall incessantly on the ground, the typical rain in Brandenburg. The researchers hope again for a rain break, because many instruments are sensitive and can only be used when it is dry. A small airplane, for example, for which a launch pad is always ready.

But the laser measuring devices distributed on the ground could also use better weather. They should record gusts at a height of two to three kilometers. But today the clouds are just too low. But the scientists do not give up hope. The measurements will be carried out by August. By then, enough data will come together in the campaign – as the study is called in technical jargon.

“Better to warn of severe storms”

“The aim is to support my weather reports and to be able to better warn of severe storms,” ​​explains Karsten Schwanke from the ARD weather department. He studied at the observatory in Lindenberg at the end of the 1980s. The institute has a long history. In 1905 it was inaugurated personally by Kaiser Wilhelm II and later used by the GDR weather service. It is now operated by the German Weather Service.

For their research, the meteorologists are now sending a weather balloon at a height of up to 20 kilometers. Its radiosonde provides valuable information about wind conditions in the atmosphere. But the weather remains difficult for the thunderstorm researchers: Today there will be no rumbling thunder, no lightning will flash in the sky – that is everyday life for Klocke: “Sometimes you see the storms passing you on your left and right. That is of course frustrating because we are yes here to investigate thunderstorms, “he sighs. “But every now and then a day’s rest is nice too.”

The researcher from Hamburg has enough to do anyway: Weeks and months can pass until all the data from the measurements in Brandenburg are evaluated. Because in between, the thunderstorm researchers often have to go out spontaneously. In the morning at five o’clock on the field – if the weather conditions are just right. Launch probes or get drones ready. Because the next thunderstorm is sure to come.