Lightning in the Mediterranean and its relation with sea-surface temperature

Kotroni, Vassiliki; Lagouvardos, K.

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034006

Cited by 65 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…It is noteworthy that the cyclones associated with lightning are more frequent in autumn and less frequent in winter, while the opposite is true for the cyclones that are not associated with lightning (Figure (c)). A plausible explanation lies to the higher Mediterranean Sea surface temperature in autumn, which increases low‐level instability and therefore favours convection (Kotroni and Lagouvardos, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lightning activity in the Mediterranean: quantification of cyclones contribution and relation to their intensity

Galanaki

Flaounas

Kotroni

et al. 2016

Atmospheric Science Letters

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A 10-year data set of intense Mediterranean cyclones was used for a twofold objective: first to quantify the cyclone's contribution to lightning occurrence in the region and second to investigate potential connection of lightning with cyclones intensity. For this reason, we used cyclone tracks, lightning observations and reanalysis from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, for the 10-year period of 2005-2014. Results showed that intense cyclones provoke <10% of lightning activity over the Mediterranean Sea, however, in certain areas, cyclone contributions might reach 20-30%. The intense cyclones, which are associated with lightning activity close to their centre, constitute about one third (36%) of the total number of tracked cyclones. Therefore two cyclone groups are identified: those associated with and those without lightning. The first group presents in average 35% more ice and 15% more liquid cloud water content within the upper and lower atmospheric levels, respectively, while is related to approximately three times greater values of convective available potential energy in average. Further analysis shows that the intensities of the cyclones in the two groups present no significant differences, suggesting that deep convection may not be a major mechanism for the occurrence of intense Mediterranean cyclones. Finally, we show that cyclones associated with lightning present the highest lightning activity about 6 h prior to the cyclones maximum intensity.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lightning activity in the Mediterranean: quantification of cyclones contribution and relation to their intensity

Galanaki

Flaounas

Kotroni

et al. 2016

Atmospheric Science Letters

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“…Lightning is also one of the important sources of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, and thus the occurrence of lightning has a significant influence on global atmospheric chemistry (Schumann and Huntrieser, 2007;Murray, 2016;Tost, 2017). Therefore, research on the response of lightning to various meteorological factors and climate change remains an important research topic (Reeve and Toumi, 1999;Xiong et al, 2006;Romps et al, 2014;Kotroni and Lagouvardos, 2016;Dewan et al, 2018;Finney et al, 2018). Therefore, research on the response of lightning to various meteorological factors and climate change remains an important research topic (Reeve and Toumi, 1999;Xiong et al, 2006;Romps et al, 2014;Kotroni and Lagouvardos, 2016;Dewan et al, 2018;Finney et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of aerosols on lightning activities in central eastern parts of China

Shi

Wang

Tan

et al. 2020

Atmospheric Science Letters

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Time series data of lightning flash rates, aerosol optical depth (AOD), surface relative humidity, potential temperature, and convective available potential energy (CAPE) for 14 consecutive summers (2001-2014) over central eastern parts of China (32.5 -40 N, 100 -120 E) have been analyzed to investigate the impact of aerosol on the lightning flash rate. The Pearson correlation and the partial correlation are used to study the linear correlations between the lightning flash rate and AOD, potential temperature, surface relative humidity, and CAPE. The results show that the lightning flash rate is positively correlated (r = .64) with AOD under relatively clean conditions (AOD < 1.0), which may result from aerosol microphysical effect. In the situation of high aerosol concentration (AOD > 1.0), the correlation between AOD and lightning flash rate is not obvious (r = −.06), which may be due to the radiation effect of aerosol and the decrease of the number of large ice particles caused by excessive aerosol concentration. CAPE and surface relative humidity are both positively correlated with the lightning flash rates under relatively clean (AOD < 1.0) and relatively polluted (AOD > 1.0) conditions. Potential temperature is moderate positively correlated with the lightning flash rate under relatively clean conditions (r = .51, AOD < 1.0) but shows no significant linear relationship under relatively polluted conditions (r = .07, AOD > 1.0). K E Y W O R D Saerosol, cloud microphysics, correlation coefficient, lightning activity

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“…Besides spatial features, the temporal variability on diurnal and annual timescales also shows several peculiarities across the respective investigation areas (e.g., Soriano et al, 2005;Antonescu and Burcea, 2010;Gladich et al, 2011;Santos et al, 2013). In addition, larger-scale investigations of lightning climatology (e.g., Holt et al, 2001;Anderson and Klugmann, 2014;Kotroni and Lagouvardos, 2016) have been performed using very low-frequency networks, implying a lower location accuracy. Satellite-based techniques allowed for developing global lightning climatologies (e.g., Christian et al, 2003;Beirle et al, 2014) but also at the expense of a reduced spatial resolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal variability of lightning activity in Europe and the relation to the North Atlantic Oscillation teleconnection pattern

Piper

Kunz

2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Comprehensive lightning statistics are presented for a large, contiguous domain covering several European countries such as France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spatiotemporal variability of convective activity is investigated based on a 14-year time series (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) of lightning data. Based on the binary variable thunderstorm day, the mean spatial patterns of lightning activity and regional peculiarities regarding seasonality are discussed. Diurnal cycles are compared among several regions and evaluated with respect to major seasonal changes. Further analyses are performed regarding interannual variability and the impact of teleconnection patterns on convection.Mean convective activity across central Europe is characterized by a strong northwest-to-southeast gradient with pronounced secondary features superimposed. The zone of maximum values of thunderstorm days propagates southwestward along the southern Alpine range from April to July. Diurnal cycles vary substantially between both different months and regions, particularly regarding the incidence of nighttime lightning. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is shown to have a significant impact on convective activity in several regions, which is primarily caused by variations of the largescale lifting pattern in both NAO phases. This dynamical effect is partly compensated for by thermodynamical modifications of the pre-convective environment. The results point to a crucial role of large-scale flow in steering the spatiotemporal patterns of convective activity.

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Lightning in the Mediterranean and its relation with sea-surface temperature

Cited by 65 publications

References 29 publications

Lightning activity in the Mediterranean: quantification of cyclones contribution and relation to their intensity

Lightning activity in the Mediterranean: quantification of cyclones contribution and relation to their intensity

Influence of aerosols on lightning activities in central eastern parts of China

Spatiotemporal variability of lightning activity in Europe and the relation to the North Atlantic Oscillation teleconnection pattern

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