INVESTIGADORES
AVILA Eldo Edgardo
artículos
Título:
Correlations between deep convection and lightning activity on a global scale
Autor/es:
AVILA E. E.; R. E. BÜRGESSER; N. E. CASTELLANO; A. COLLIER; R. COMPAGNUCCI; A. HUGHES
Revista:
JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS
Editorial:
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 72 p. 1114 - 1121
ISSN:
1364-6826
Resumen:
Satellite observations of cloud top temperature and lightning flash distribution are used to examine the
relationship between deep convection and lightning activity over the tropical regions of the northern
and southern hemispheres. In agreement with previous work, the analysis of the results shows that, in
the summer of both hemispheres, the lightning activity in continental deep convective storms is more
intense than that in marine deep convective storms by a factor of between 7 and 10. Furthermore, it was
observed that on average the daily lightning rate per 1111 grid cell for the southern hemisphere (SH)
is about 20% greater than that of the northern hemisphere (NH), which can be attributed to a larger
fractional cover by deep convective clouds in the SH. By using a set of independent indicators, it is
shown that deep convection and lightning activity over land are well correlated (with correlation
coefficients of 0.8 and 0.6 for NH and SH, respectively). This suggests the capacity for observations to act
as a possible method of monitoring continental deep convective clouds, which play a key role in
regulating the Earths climate. Since lightning can be monitored easily from ground networks and
satellites, it could be a useful tool for validating the performance of model convective schemes and for
monitoring changes in climate parameters.111 grid cell for the southern hemisphere (SH)
is about 20% greater than that of the northern hemisphere (NH), which can be attributed to a larger
fractional cover by deep convective clouds in the SH. By using a set of independent indicators, it is
shown that deep convection and lightning activity over land are well correlated (with correlation
coefficients of 0.8 and 0.6 for NH and SH, respectively). This suggests the capacity for observations to act
as a possible method of monitoring continental deep convective clouds, which play a key role in
regulating the Earths climate. Since lightning can be monitored easily from ground networks and
satellites, it could be a useful tool for validating the performance of model convective schemes and for
monitoring changes in climate parameters.