A survey of thunderstorm flash rates compared to cloud top height using TRMM satellite data

Abstract

Abstract. The relationship between cloud height and lightning activity is examined using data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Coincident data from the precipitation radar (PR) and Lightning Imaging Sensor aboard the TRMM satellite are used to examine whether lightning flash rate is proportional to the fifth power of cloud top height. This study-is unique in that (1) the relationship between instantaneous rather than maximum storm height and flash rate is obtained and (2) relatively unbiased full data sets for different locations and seasons over the globe are used. The relationship between thunderstorm height and flash rate is nonlinear with large variance. The overall trend shows that flash rate increases exponentially with storm height. Some tall thunderstorms do not have large flash rates, but the reverse situation never occurs. The fifth power dependency that is derived from scaling laws is not inconsistent with, but not necessarily required by, the observed data.

Estimates of lightning NO<sub>x</sub> production from GOME satellite observations

“…This power however is quite sensitive to assumptions about the (height-dependence of the) background, or coefficient A. From fits with different choices of A we arrive at a conservative error estimate on C of ±2 for both tropical oceans and continents (Ushio et al, 2001). The dependence of the observed NO 2 on cloud height is surprisingly consistent with the power-law parameterization of LNO x in CTMs (Price and Rind, 1992).…”

“…higher clouds are expected to have strong increases in lightning activity. Ushio et al (2001) also found an exponential increase in satellite-observed lightning intensity as a function of satellite-observed cloud height.…”

“…There is additional observational evidence for the validity of applying a fifth power law to cloud top heights from Ushio et al (2001), with a reported uncertainty of ±2 on the power 5 number. In TM3 maximum altitudes of convective transport are used as measure for the storm dimension H .…”

Land‐ocean contrasts in lightning activity over the Indian region

“…Though it is clear from these studies that large percentage of lightning activity occurs over land (Turman and Edgar, 1982;Orville and Henderson;Christian et al, 1999), a considerable amount of lightning activity still occurs over oceans and coastal areas. (Hidayat and Ishii, 1998;Boccippio and Goodman, 2000;Ushio et al, 2001;Fullekrug et al, 2002;Toracinta et al, 2002;Williams and Stanfil, 2002;Seity et al, 2003;Altaratz et al, 2003;Williams and Satori 2004;Williams and Chan, 2004;Collier et al, 2006;Pinto et al, 2007;Chronis et al, 2008). There are maritime regions such as Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and in the South Pacific Ocean near Australia, where lightning activity appears frequently.…”

Total Lightning Flash Activity Response to Aerosol over China Area

“…The clouds with a higher cloud top height characterized by strong convection had a higher capability to produce more lightning flashes. The previous studies [55] indicated that lightning activity is linked closely with the cloud top height, and the flash rate increases with the cloud height as a power law. The results (Figures 3 and 4) are consistent with the previous studies of Altaratz et al [28] which discussed the effects of smoke aerosol loading on the convection intensity and lightning activities of thunderstorms over the Amazon by using World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) lightning data and MODIS cloud and aerosol data.…”