Supercell Thunderstorms in the Alpine Region - From Weather Radar Observations to Idealized Modeling ...

The high-impact nature and increasing occurrence of severe weather phenomena pushes forward research on their occurrence and improving our understanding thereof. Supercell thunderstorms are the focus of much severe convective research, as they represent one of the most hazardous convective storm types. The behavior of supercell thunderstorms in complex terrain is still poorly understood. In Switzerland there are no previous comprehensive studies concerning supercells, in contrast to hailstorms, which have been studied more extensively. The Swiss radar network offers high-quality observations with a dense spatio-temporal coverage that provides a good foundation for convective studies. This thesis establishes a general understanding of supercell characteristics for the Alpine region. By employing automatic detection in radar data, a large set of events provides the basis for observational analyses. These inform modeling scenarios that aim to achieve an understanding of the underlying meteorological phenomena ...