TRMM observations of the global relationship between ice water content and lightning

Petersen, Walter A.; Christian, H. J.; Rutledge, Steven A.

doi:10.1029/2005gl023236

Cited by 205 publications

(208 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The 0 • C and-5 • C levels were climatological heights (approximately 5 and 4 km, respectively) found as a function of location using National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data (Petersen et al, 2005). Because of difficulties in calculating mass contents in mixedphase conditions, no attempt was made to estimate IWC or LWC between the 0 • C and-5 • C levels.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Regional comparison of West African convective characteristics: a TRMM‐based climatology

Guy

Rutledge

2011

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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A 13-year (1998-2010) climatology of mesoscale convective characteristics associated with the West African monsoon are investigated using precipitation radar and passive microwave data from the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. Seven regions defined as continental northeast and northwest, southeast and southwest, coastal, and maritime north and south are compared to analyse zonal and meridional differences. Data are categorized according to identified African easterly wave (AEW) phase and when no wave is present. While some enhancements are observed in association with AEW regimes, regional differences were generally more apparent than wave vs. no-wave differences. Convective intensity metrics confirm that land-based systems exhibit stronger characteristics, such as higher storm top and maximum 30 dBZ heights and significant 85 GHz brightness temperature depressions. Continental systems also contain a lower fraction of points identified as stratiform. Results suggest that precipitation processes also varied depending upon region and AEW regime, with warm-rain processes more apparent over the ocean and the southwest continental region and ice-based microphysics more dominant over land, including mixed-phase processes. AEW regimes did show variability in stratiform fraction and ice and liquid water content, suggesting modulation of mesoscale characteristics possibly through feedback with the synoptic environment.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Calculation of ice water mass and liquid water mass using three-dimensional PR data followed the methodology of Petersen et al (2005). Briefly, vertical profiles (250 m spacing) of radar reflectivity (Z) for every PF were processed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional comparison of West African convective characteristics: a TRMM‐based climatology

Guy

Rutledge

2011

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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“…Though the ice water content values estimated from different Z-M relationships may differ from each other significantly, their trends of variation are similar . Here we follow Petersen et al [2005] and roughly estimate ice water mass (IWM) from PR reflectivity using a Z-M relationship based on an exponential size distribution reported by Black [1990]:…”

Section: Ice Water Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Zipser

Liu

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] Seasonal variations on lightning activity of precipitation systems over south China and Taiwan before and after the onset of Mei-Yu have been observed by the lightning imager sensor (LIS) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Lightning storms before Mei-Yu onset show higher probability of lightning, higher flash rate, and larger radar reflectivity in the mixed-phase region than the Mei-Yu regime. However, the probability of lightning occurrence with the same threshold of maximum radar reflectivity or ice scattering signature is similar for land systems before and during Mei-Yu season. Oceanic systems show slightly lower probability of lightning even with the same thresholds. Relationships between a set of TRMM-observed parameters and LIS lightning frequency are further examined. For lightning systems over land, the total area of radar echo above 35 dBZ has a closer relationship with lightning flash rate at the temperature between −5°C and −15°C than other parameters. Area of lower radar reflectivity at colder temperature, e.g., area of 20 dBZ at −40°C, is also highly correlated with lightning frequency. The highest correlation between area of specific radar reflectivity and lightning frequency is found at lower temperatures when the oceanic lightning systems are examined.

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“…The result is net accumulation of opposite charge in different parts of the thundercloud. This has been shown to be a realistic theory through a combination of laboratory, field measurement and satellite studies (Williams, 1989;Blyth et al, 2001;Petersen et al, 2005;Saunders, 2008;Deierling et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using cloud ice flux to parametrise large-scale lightning

et al. 2014

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Abstract.Lightning is an important natural source of nitrogen oxide especially in the middle and upper troposphere. Hence, it is essential to represent lightning in chemistry transport and coupled chemistry-climate models. Using ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data we compare the lightning flash density distributions produced using several existing lightning parametrisations, as well as a new parametrisation developed on the basis of upward cloud ice flux at 440 hPa. The use of ice flux forms a link to the non-inductive charging mechanism of thunderstorms. Spatial and temporal distributions of lightning flash density are compared to tropical and subtropical observations for 2007-2011 from the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The well-used lightning flash parametrisation based on cloud-top height has large biases but the derived annual total flash density has a better spatial correlation with the LIS observations than other existing parametrisations. A comparison of flash density simulated by the different schemes shows that the cloud-top height parametrisation has many more instances of moderate flash densities and fewer low and high extremes compared to the other parametrisations. Other studies in the literature have shown that this feature of the cloud-top height parametrisation is in contrast to lightning observations over certain regions. Our new ice flux parametrisation shows a clear improvement over all the existing parametrisations with lower root mean square errors (RMSEs) and better spatial correlations with the observations for distributions of annual total, and seasonal and interannual variations. The greatest improvement with the new parametrisation is a more realistic representation of the zonal distribution with a better balance between tropical and subtropical lightning flash estimates. The new parametrisation is appropriate for testing in chemistry transport and chemistry-climate models that use a lightning parametrisation.

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TRMM observations of the global relationship between ice water content and lightning

Cited by 205 publications

References 14 publications

Regional comparison of West African convective characteristics: a TRMM‐based climatology

Regional comparison of West African convective characteristics: a TRMM‐based climatology

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Using cloud ice flux to parametrise large-scale lightning

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