Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Lightning Activities on the Tibetan Plateau

Qie, Xiushu; Yuan, Tie; Xie, Yingxin; Ma, Yaoming

doi:10.1002/cjg2.596

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The rainfall-lightning relationship is found more consistent during premonsoon season than monsoon season as reported by Lal and Pawar (2009). A higher ratio of premonsoon lightning flash density to rain rate is reported over the Tibet Plateau than that during monsoon season by Qie et al (2004). Higher mean cell-level flash rate during the premonsoon season than during the monsoon season has been established by Yuan and Qie (2008).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Analysis of cloud-to-ground lightning and its relation with surface pollutants over Taipei, Taiwan

Kar

Liou

2014

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. Premonsoon (March-April) cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning activity over Taipei, Taiwan, is analyzed in relation to surface pollutants like particulate matter (PM 10 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and ozone (O 3 ) concentration for a period of 6 years (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010). Other surface parameters like aerosol optical depth and cloud top temperature are also investigated taking data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite products. Results reveal that SO 2 is more strongly associated with CG lightning activity compared to PM 10 concentration. Other surface pollutants like NO x and O 3 also show strong linear association with CG lightning flashes. Additional investigations have also been performed to extreme lightning events, particularly to a few long-lasting lightning episodes considering the concentrations of NO x and O 3 found on days with no lightning activity as representative of the background concentration levels of the said two parameters. Results indicate that the NO x concentration on days with lightning activity is more than 2-fold compared to the non-lightning days while the O 3 concentration is increased by 1.5-fold. Such increase in NO x and O 3 concentration on days with lightning strongly supports the transport phenomena of NO x and O 3 from the upper or middle troposphere to the lower troposphere by downdraft of the thunderstorm during its dissipation stage. Overall, studies suggest that enhanced surface pollution in a near-storm environment is strongly related to the increased lightning activity, which in turn increases the surface NO x level and surface O 3 concentration over the area under study.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Analysis of cloud-to-ground lightning and its relation with surface pollutants over Taipei, Taiwan

Kar

Liou

2014

Ann. Geophys.

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“…Convective systems occur in the western region of Himalayas as moist low‐level air from the Arabian Sea traverses desert land, where surface flux of sensible heat enhances its buoyancy [ Medina et al , 2010]. Higher sensible heat flux from the ground results in an unstable lower atmosphere and causes vertical air motion that is vital to deep convection, ice crystal production of thunderstorm, electric charge separation, and lightning [ Qie et al , 2004]. As the flow approaches the Himalayan foothills, the low‐level and elevated layers of dry, warm, continental flow apparently cap the low‐level moist flow, inhibiting the release of instability upstream of the foothills.…”

Section: Eof Analysis Of Flash Rate Surface Temperature and Capementioning

confidence: 99%

The spatiotemporal variability of lightning activity in the Himalayan foothills

Kumar

Kamra

2012

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] The spatiotemporal variability of lightning activity in the region of the Himalayan foothills and perpendicular to it has been examined from about 16-year data from the TRMM satellite. The monthly mean flash rate for the period from 1995 to 2010 is maximum in an arc-shaped area along the Himalayan foothills and decreases on both the north and south sides of it. Seasonal variation of mean flash rate changes from annual to semiannual as the area shifts from north to south of the Himalayas and the average elevation of area decreases from 5043 m to 219 m. Further, the mean flash rate is higher in the afternoon and lower from midnight to midday. In the Himalayan foothills, the mean flash rate is highly correlated with surface temperature but poorly correlated with the convective available potential energy (CAPE). Lightning flashes occurring in the high-altitude regions, as compared to the low-altitude regions, are less energetic but more frequent. The empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis has been applied to three different data sets of flash rates, surface temperature, and CAPE in the 18.75 N-36 N and 68.75 E-93.75 E area for the period of 1995-2010 to examine the relationship between these parameters in terms of seasonal variations in this region. Spatial distributions of the first mode of flash rate and CAPE and of the first and second modes of surface temperature indicate that the Himalayan range exerts a strong effect on the flash rate distributions in this region. However, while the first mode of spatial distribution of flash rate is in phase with the surface temperature, the time series of CAPE and flash rate are out of phase for the first mode but in phase for their second modes. This result amounts to that 65% of variability in CAPE cannot be associated with the changes in flash rate but 22% of CAPE variability can be associated with changes in flash rate. Higher values of flash rate in the Himalayan foothills are suggested to be associated with the diurnal cycle of a mountain breeze front. Relative roles of convective activities due to solar heating of land, orography of the region, and the synoptic convective systems embedded in monsoon current are discussed to explain the results.

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“…A total of 30, 10, and 11 cases of overhead thunderstorms were observed in the Naqu, Datong and Zhongchuan regions, respectively. The statistical results show that most of thunderstorms occur mainly in the afternoon from 13:00 to 22:00 Beijing Time, and only a small portion of them occur from 23:00 to 12:00 [7], [8].…”

Section: A the General Characteristics Of Thunderstorm And Lightningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For most of thunderstorms mainly occur in the afternoon from April to September in the Chinese inland plateau [7], [8], it is reasonable to discuss the surface thermodynamic conditions by choosing the 14:00 surface data in the same period. The routine sounding data at 7:30 and 19:30 can not very well represent the atmospheric condition in the afternoon, in order to compare the unstable atmospheric condition prior to thunderstorm, only those data with convective available potential energy (CAPE) larger than zero has been selected.…”

Section: Relationship With Atmospheric Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The investigation on electrical characteristics of thunderstorms in the Chinese inland plateau

Zhang

Qie

Zhang

2010

2010 Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility

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The electrical characteristics of thunderstorms in different altitude regions of the Chinese inland plateau have been analyzed in this paper. The results show that the thunderstorms can be divided into two categories in the study regions, one showing the normal tripole electrical charge structure (Normaltype), another one showing the special tripole charge structure with a larger-than-usual lower positive charge center (LPCC) at the base of thunderstorm (Special-type). We find that the two types of thunderstorms have different occurrences in different regions, and the percentage of Special-type thunderstorm increases with the altitude. On the whole, the flash rate of Special-type is slightly larger than that of the normal-type thunderstorm. The relations of combined meteorological parameters to the electrical characteristics of thunderstorms in the study regions are discussed in detail. We find that the temperature difference of surface and air at two meters above surface (Ts-T2m) and warm cloud depth (WCD) have obvious indication on the intensity of LPCC.

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Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Lightning Activities on the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 16 publications

References 8 publications

Analysis of cloud-to-ground lightning and its relation with surface pollutants over Taipei, Taiwan

Analysis of cloud-to-ground lightning and its relation with surface pollutants over Taipei, Taiwan

The spatiotemporal variability of lightning activity in the Himalayan foothills

The investigation on electrical characteristics of thunderstorms in the Chinese inland plateau

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