The intracloud/cloud-to-ground lightning ratio in Southeastern Brazil

Souza, Pinheiro; Pinto, O.; Pinto, I. R. C. A.; Ferreira, Nelson Jesus; Santos, A. F. dos

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2008.06.011

Cited by 27 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The negative CG flash density distribution is strongly influenced by the terrain height (that is, the altitude above the sea level), as it can be seen from a detailed comparison of Figure 3 with the map of terrain height in Figure 4. The comparison shows that the maximum values occur just in the southern border of the mountains with a blue minimum in the center region of the mountains (see de Souza et al [2009] for more details). On the other hand, the negative LPCCG flash density distribution is less influenced by the altitude, showing a maximum in the northwest region.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The spatial distribution for all positive CG flashes is also apparently influenced by altitude, as it can be seen comparing Figure 6 with the map of terrain height in Figure 4. For instance, the maximum in Figure 6 occur in the north border of the higher mountains (see de Souza et al [2009] for more details). On the other hand, the spatial distribution for positive LPCCG flashes is not.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climatology of large peak current cloud‐to‐ground lightning flashes in southeastern Brazil

Pinto¹,

Pinto²,

Campos³

et al. 2009

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] The goal of this article is to present the first climatology of large peak current cloud-toground (LPCCG) flashes in southeastern Brazil, in terms of flash density, percentage of positive LPCCG flashes, peak current, and diurnal distributions. The results are based on data provided by the Brazilian Lightning Detection Network (BrasilDat) from 1999 to 2006, and only flashes with peak currents >75 kA recorded during the months of December, January, February, and March (the approximate summer season in the Southern Hemisphere) were considered in order to compare with similar data obtained by Lyons et al. (1998) in the contiguous United States. The LPCCG data set, consisting of approximately 122,000 flashes, is currently the largest data set available for the tropical region. The LPCCG flashes represent about 3% of all flashes recorded during this period. All LPCCG distributions were obtained for both negative and positive flashes. The flash density distributions for negative and positive LPCCG flashes are different and furthermore differ from the flash density distributions for all negative and positive cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes. This suggests that the flash density distribution of CG flashes is peak current dependent. While the negative LPCCG flash density distribution has no significant dependence on any specific geographical or meteorological feature, the positive LPCCG flash density distribution and the distribution of the percentage of positive LPCCG flashes are closely related to the occurrence of mesoscale convective systems. The peak current and diurnal distributions of LPCCG flashes were found to be similar to those obtained in the contiguous United States.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatology of large peak current cloud‐to‐ground lightning flashes in southeastern Brazil

Pinto¹,

Pinto²,

Campos³

et al. 2009

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…Lightning flashes can be grouped into two categories: those striking the ground and those not doing so. The intracloud to cloud‐to‐ground lightning flash ratio has been extensively studied in many regions all over the world [e.g., Pierce , ; Prentice and Mackerras , ; MacGorman et al ., ; Boccippio et al ., ; Orville et al ., ; Soriano and de Pablo , ; Kuleshov et al ., ; de Souza et al ., ]. It is generally believed that intracloud, intercloud, and cloud‐to‐air flashes (all of which do not involve ground) comprise around 70–75% of lightning discharges, and that cloud‐to‐ground flashes comprise 25–30%.…”

Section: Methodology For Lightning‐type Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Types of lightning discharges that abruptly terminate enhanced fluxes of energetic radiation and particles observed at ground level

et al. 2017

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We present ground‐based measurements of thunderstorm‐related enhancements of fluxes of energetic radiation and particles that are abruptly terminated by lightning discharges. All measurements were performed at an altitude of 3200 m above sea level on Mount Aragats (Armenia). Lightning signatures were recorded using a wideband electric field measuring system with a useful frequency bandwidth of 50 Hz to 12 MHz and network of five electric field mills, three of which were installed at the Aragats station, one at the Nor Amberd station (12.8 km from Aragats), and one at the Yerevan station (39 km from Aragats). We observed that the flux‐enhancement termination was associated only with close (within 10 km or so of the particle detector) negative CGs and normal‐polarity ICs; that is, with lightning types which reduce the upward directed electric field below the cloud and hence suppress the acceleration of electrons toward the ground.

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“…This estimation is traditionally obtained from the measured number of CG flashes, by assuming a value for Z . Until recently however, Z estimates have been relatively rare and have a wide range of values: Mackerras et al [1998] estimated a global value of Z of 3.5, De Souza et al [2008] found Z ranging from 2 to 12 in Southeastern Brazil, and Rivas and de Pablo [2007] obtained an average Z of 3.48 with large variability in their domain of study over the Iberian Peninsula. A recent estimate over the continental United States, using the NLDN and the Optical Transient Detector from 1995 to 1999, yielded a somewhat smaller value of 2.94 ± 1.28 with large spatial variability [ Boccippio et al , 2001, Figure 2].…”

Section: Coincident Lightningmentioning

confidence: 99%

An evaluation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) using the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) as ground truth

2010

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. The WWLLN cloud-to-ground detection efficiency is found to be strongly dependent on peak current and polarity, attaining values larger than 10% (35%) for currents stronger than ±35 kA (−130 kA) and values less than 2% for currents between 0 and −10 kA. The location accuracy is found to have a northward and westward bias, with average location errors of 4.03 km in the north-south and 4.98 km in the east-west directions, respectively. The WWLLN is shown to have strong limitations in capturing the diurnal cycle, missing both the timing of the maximum and minimum lightning activity (around 1600 and 0900 LT, respectively), and the amplitude of the cycle as well. It is found that in 3 h intervals, the number of flashes in the WWLLN has some proportionality to the number of flashes in the NLDN, suggesting that the WWLLN has strong potential for meteorological applications.

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The intracloud/cloud-to-ground lightning ratio in Southeastern Brazil

Cited by 27 publications

References 14 publications

Climatology of large peak current cloud‐to‐ground lightning flashes in southeastern Brazil

Climatology of large peak current cloud‐to‐ground lightning flashes in southeastern Brazil

Types of lightning discharges that abruptly terminate enhanced fluxes of energetic radiation and particles observed at ground level

An evaluation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) using the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) as ground truth

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