Relationship between lightning activity and tropical cyclone intensity over the northwest Pacific

Zhang, Wenjuan; Zhang, Yijun; Zheng, Dong; Wang, Fei; Xu, Liangtao

doi:10.1002/2014jd022334

Cited by 45 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Similar to previous studies [ Kelley et al , ; DeMaria et al , ; Tao and Jiang , ], the TC area (or an ITP) is defined within 500 km in radius from the TC center as shown in Figure . Considering the variability of the eyewall extent [ Jiang et al , ], limited sample in the eyewall (tens of kilometers in width), and consistency with previous studies [ DeMaria et al , ; Zhang et al , ; Stevenson et al , ], INCO, and OB are defined as areas within 0–100 km and 200–400 km radius of the TC center, respectively. Compared to the data set with INCO identified manually [ Jiang and Ramirez , ], the fixed (0–100 km) INCO definition yields only trivial differences concerning the statistics of INCO deep convection [ Tao and Jiang , ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…By making use of the full spectrum of the large TRMM data set, this study improves the clarity of the relevant issues from multidimensional perspectives regarding TC convection, e.g., total lightning density, mixed‐phase radar echo volume, echo top heights, and vertically integrated ice content. Using total lightning, we did not find that RI was preceded by an increase in eyewall lightning activity as some of the CG‐based studies argued [ Lyons and Keen , ; Stevenson et al , ; Susca‐Lopata et al , ; Zhang et al ., ]. The studies that found eyewall lightning increases (or lightning bursts) prior to RI were however case study‐based; thus, the generality of the finding is in question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The major factor responsible for this difference (monotonic versus bimodal structure) could be attributed to whether or not the actual precipitation area is considered for flash rate or FLD calculation. In this study, as well as Cecil et al [] and Jiang et al [], flash rate is normalized by satellite‐based rain area as lightning is tightly coupled to precipitating clouds, whereas precipitation area was not considered in the flash rate/FLD calculation by Yokoyama and Takayabu [], DeMaria et al [], and Zhang et al [].…”

Section: Characteristics Of Tc Total Lightningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Remarkable eyewall lightning outbreaks during periods of RI, eyewall replacement cycle, and maximum intensity were observed in Rita (2005) and Katrina (2005), two of the strongest storms in the Atlantic hurricane record [ Squires and Businger , ]. Based on 5 years of TC samples in the northwestern Pacific basin, Zhang et al [] showed that RI TCs exhibit substantially higher INCO lightning density than rapidly weakening (RW) TCs, although INCO lightning density in RI and neutral TCs was similar. Other studies found a strong positive correlation ( r = 0.7–0.8) between lightning frequency and MSW in major hurricanes when the entire TC region is included [ Price et al , ; Pan et al , ; Whittaker et al , ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationships between total lightning, deep convection, and tropical cyclone intensity change

Rutledge

Zhang

2017

JGR Atmospheres

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This study investigates the characteristics of total lightning in the inner core (INCO, 0–100 km) and outer rainband (OB, 200–400 km) of tropical cyclones (TC). Relationships between flash density (FLD), convective intensity, and TC intensity change are further examined. FLD shows a bimodal structure with a strong maximum in the eyewall (INCO, 0–50 km) and a secondary maximum in the OB. FLD maximizes under conditions of warmest sea surface temperature (SST) and large values of vertical wind shear. Compared to OB FLD, INCO FLD is less sensitive to SST increase but shows greater variability in relation to shear. Intensifying TCs have substantially lower INCO (but higher OB) FLD compared to weakening and neutral TCs. Similar trends are shown in radar quantities (volume of 30 dBZ echoes in the mixed phase). rapidly intensifying (RI) TCs also show significantly smaller FLD and VOL30 than slowly intensifying TCs, indicating the potential of these parameters in forecasting RI. INCO (OB) FLD decreases (increases) 12–18 h preceding the onset of RI, while INCO (OB) FLD increases (decreases) 6–12 h prior to TC weakening. These relationships between lightning and TC intensity change (+24 h) are generally maintained regardless of prior (−24 h) TC intensity change status. However, convective depth and vertically integrated ice content in the INCO increased preceding TC intensification, suggesting the lack of supercooled liquid content and establishment of glaciated conditions (evident by an increase in the 20 dBZ and decrease in the 30 dBZ echo volume) in the INCO of intensifying TCs, especially RI.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Characteristics Of Tc Total Lightningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationships between total lightning, deep convection, and tropical cyclone intensity change

Rutledge

Zhang

2017

JGR Atmospheres

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“…Thomas et al () investigated the lightning activity in three North Atlantic hurricanes in 2005 to evaluate the capability of TCs to produce elves and sprites, indicating that the inner core area does not spawn considerable sprite‐producing CGs. However, previous studies showed that most lightning in hurricanes is found in the vicinity of outer spiral rainbands (Molinari et al, ), although the lightning activity in the inner core area is potentially a better indicator for predicting the rapid intensification of TCs (e.g., Zhang et al, ). So could the outer rainbands of TCs be the main region of sprite production?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Red Sprites Above Hurricane Matthew

Huang

Yue

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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More than three dozen red sprites were captured above Hurricane Matthew on the nights of 1 and 2 October 2016 as it passed to the north of Venezuela after undergoing rapid intensification. Analyses using broadband magnetic fields indicate that all of the sprites were produced by positive cloud‐to‐ground (CG) strokes located within the outer rainbands as defined by relatively cold cloud top brightness temperatures (≤194 K). Negative CG strokes with impulse charge transfers exceeding the threshold of sprite production also existed, but the timescale of the charge transfer was not sufficiently long to develop streamers. The reported observations are contrary to the finding of the Imager of Sprites/Upper Atmospheric Lightning showing that sprites are preferentially produced by negative strokes in the same geographic region. Further ground‐based observations are desired to obtain additional insights into the convective regimes associated with the dominance of negative sprites in many oceanic and coastal thunderstorms.

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Identifying the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones using the Himawari‐8 satellite and their impacts in the Philippines

Tierra

Bagtasa

2022

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Tropical cyclones (TCs) that undergo rapid intensification (RI), defined as the upper 95th percentile increase of TC maximum winds in a 24-hr period, are likely to pose a bigger threat to affected countries in the western North Pacific (WNP). In the Philippines, of the 522 TCs that made landfall from 1951 to 2020, 146 TCs (28%) underwent RI. The majority (82%) of these RI TCs made landfall with at least typhoon intensity, in contrast, only 12% of landfalling non-RI TCs were typhoons. As the region in the WNP basin where most TC RI occurs (bounded by 123 -140 E and 10 -20 N) is located just to the east of the Philippines, TC RI is typically followed by landfall in the Philippines, many of which do so at their peak intensity. Consequently, results suggest that TCs undergoing RI have a larger impact on the country. Comparison of socioeconomic data between landfalling RI and non-RI TCs showed that the former tend to have larger impacts in terms of population affected and number of deaths. Hence, determining TC RI at its onset can aid in the early warning of impending TC intensification. In this study, we explored the use of infrared brightness temperature (Bt) satellite data in the identification of TC RI onset.The 10.4 μm window band of the Himawari-8 satellite was used to measure the amount of active convection that typically occurs before or during the onset of TC RI. RI onset is determined if 100% of pixels within a 50 km radius from the TC centre have Bt ≤225 K. Assessment of satellite Bt data that fit this set of criteria followed by 25 and 35 kt RI in the next 24 hr have positive Pierce skill scores of 0.47 and 0.48, respectively, false alarm ratio of 0.13-0.20, and probability of false detection of 0.02-0.03.

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Relationship between lightning activity and tropical cyclone intensity over the northwest Pacific

Cited by 45 publications

References 62 publications

Relationships between total lightning, deep convection, and tropical cyclone intensity change

Relationships between total lightning, deep convection, and tropical cyclone intensity change

Observations of Red Sprites Above Hurricane Matthew

Identifying the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones using the Himawari‐8 satellite and their impacts in the Philippines

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