NEWS
NORMAN, Okla. – As weather radars around the world monitor and help forecast severe storms, a team of University of Oklahoma researchers is working to revolutionize how they track one of the most feared marvels of nature: lightning. A newly funded research project led by David Schvartzman will use trailblazing technology to transform understanding of lightning and electrification, helping to improve storm warnings and better assess the risk of structural damage and power outages from thunderstorms.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded OU nearly $1 million for the three-year project, known as Phased Array Polarimetry for Electrification and Lightning (PAPEL). Scientists and engineers with OU’s Advanced Radar Research Center are leading the initiative alongside faculty and students from the School of Meteorology and the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Electrification experts from Texas Tech University are also collaborating with OU on the project.
Central to this research is a revolutionary radar that OU began developing nearly two decades ago, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory. Horus, named after the Egyptian deity, is the world’s first fully digital polarimetric phased-array weather radar, providing rapid scans of the atmosphere from a truck-mounted platform.
One of the new insights that this research-grade, ultra-fast storm imaging provides is a clearer picture of lightning plasma. Conventional radars provide storm snapshots every five minutes, and any lightning that is picked up only appears as faint traces. Alternatively, Horus can capture updates of a storm’s structure in seconds, allowing the team to obtain lightning-related reflected signals and their distinctive polarimetric indicators more clearly.
Schvartzman, an assistant professor with the Schools of Meteorology and Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the architect of Horus’ scan strategies and PAPEL’s principal investigator. He said the project is an expansion of smaller, proof-of-concept research from 2023-24 that also received NSF funding.
“Part of what we did in the original project was scan ultrafast a certain region of a storm, and we could actually see reflections from lightning plasma in the radar data, coming down from the top of the cloud toward the atmosphere’s melting layer,” Schvartzman said. “That was the first time someone documented full extent observations of direct lightning plasma using radar.”
The researchers will determine which conditions lead clouds to electrify and produce lightning, and observe how often lightning “signatures” appear in Horus’ rapid scans. Using those insights, they aim to identify radar-based signatures tied to lightning initiation and storm electrification, quantify how often they appear, and better understand how lightning discharges interact with storm structure and the environment below.
The team will also study how electric fields align ice crystals in clouds — an effect that can leave measurable signatures in polarimetric radar data. These observations can help diagnose how storm microphysics and electrification evolve leading up to lightning.
Schvartzman said that once research begins, the team plans to take the radar around Norman to capture data from thunderstorms. But that field work also comes with practical challenges: the team needs to protect the radar truck from hail and other storm hazards while still collecting high-quality measurements.
“The Horus radar is a one-of-a-kind research instrument, and you need a commercial driver's license to drive it because it's huge,” Schvartzman said. “We want to be able to drive back home if there's an immediate threat and put it in our secure shelter that can withstand severe weather and protect the instrument.”
The team plans to combine Horus observations with OU’s Rapid Scanning X-band Polarimetric (RaXPol) mobile radar, the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array, electric field-change sensors and video observations of lightning. These methods will connect lightning channel evolution with storm microphysics and electrification. During field deployments, these systems will be operated in coordinated setups to capture storms from multiple perspectives and link radar signatures with lightning observations.
OU students will also be a valuable part of the project, Schvartzman said. A group of undergraduates are expected to help with data collection and analysis, and the NSF award includes funding for two graduate students to dive deep into the research: one from the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering to design radar scans and data processing methods, and another from the School of Meteorology to interpret findings.
As the PAPEL team prepares to launch their new project, they also hope to lay groundwork for future operational weather radars — potentially phased array radars — that can better monitor storm electrification and lightning-related signatures. Their work will focus on developing detection methods and alert indicators to support research studies and, eventually, be used in operations.
“Our goal is to develop a new product that highlights when storms are strongly electrified and lightning signatures are likely to be present in radar data,” Schvartzman said.
He added that, as OU also supports federal partners on future radar-system upgrades, PAPEL’s findings could shape how next-generation radars observe electrification and lightning-related artifacts: from detecting cloud electrification to understanding how storm electrification relates to impacts such as lightning-related power disruptions.
“This project wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory in developing Horus,” Schvartzman said. “This work’s outcomes could help inform future operational radar systems across the United States.”
About the research
“AGS-FIRP Track 2--Phased Array Polarimetry for Electrification and Lightning (PAPEL)” is funded by a $971,621.00 award from the National Science Foundation, Award No. 2549969.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
A newly funded research project led by David Schvartzman will use trailblazing technology to transform understanding of lightning and electrification, helping to improve storm warnings and better assess the risk of structural damage and power outages from thunderstorms.
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