Young PNNL researcher awarded $2.5M for violent thunderstorm study

A young Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientist will receive $2.5 million to study why thunderstorms in the central United States are becoming more frequent and more violent.

Jiwen Fan has been selected as one of 57 researchers to receive a 2017 Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy.

Fan, a scientist in the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division at PNNL in Richland, studies storms that produce large hail, damaging winds, tornadoes and torrential rainfall.

She is investigating how the storms form and why they’re changing.

Large Midwest and Texas cities soak in light and trap heat, which boosts the amount of energy near the Earth’s surface, increasing the severity of thunderstorms, according to PNNL.

They also have more airborne particles, which can influence cloud growth and make severe thunderstorms occur more often over cities than in rural areas.

Wildfires as far away as California and even Central America may add tiny particles to the atmosphere, increasing the intensity of thunderstorms as the particles drift across the Midwest.

Fan will use supercomputers to investigate how such factors shape severe thunderstorms.

The grant will be available over five years to support the research done by Fan and several post-doctoral research associates.

The grants, awarded to researchers within a decade of earning a doctorate, are intended to provide support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early years of their careers. Fan has worked at PNNL for 10 years.

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Young PNNL researcher awarded $2.5M for violent thunderstorm study."