Antenna structures and cloud‐to‐ground lightning location: 1995–2015

Kingfield, Darrel M.; Calhoun, Kristin M.; Beurs, Kirsten M. de

doi:10.1002/2017gl073449

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Especially for shallow lake-effect thundersnow events, the electric field breakdown can happen due to large and tall anthropogenic structures (e.g., wind turbines and television towers) and lightning can occur in a stratiform region, that is, away from the core of convection (Schultz et al, 2018;Steiger et al, 2018). Kingfield et al (2017) showed a positive correlation between tall structures and CG occurrences, where the locations near to taller tower (> 400 m) experienced a median increase of 150% CG lightning density compared to the farther locations. Other past studies also have suggested that the presence of large ice particles (>30 dBZ) or graupel in the mixed-phase region is a good source of lightning electrification (Buechler & Goodman, 1990;Petersen et al, 1996;Williams et al, 1991 etc.).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical Distribution of Thundersnow Events and Their Properties From GPM Ku‐Band Radar

Adhikari

Liu

2019

JGR Atmospheres

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Six‐years (2010–2015) of snow lightning characteristics and climatology, including seasonal, diurnal, and surface temperature distribution, are generated. The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) and the National Lightning Detection Network lightning observations are collocated with Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA‐2) temperatures. Cold season lightning events are identified as lightning with the MERRA‐2 two‐meter surface temperature colder than 0 °C and then further classified as snow lightning or thundersnow, when the entire vertical temperature profile is below 2 °C, and as freezing rain lightning when there is a temperature warmer than 2 °C somewhere in the column above the freezing surface. The statistics of snow lightning events from WWLLN and National Lightning Detection Network are well matched and are consistent with the climatology of thundersnow days reported at ground‐based stations over the United States. Using 4 years of observations from the Global Precipitation Measuring Mission Ku band radar, 443 Thunder Snow Features (TSFs) are defined, having a contiguous area of nonzero near surface snow precipitation derived from the Ku band radar and MERRA‐2 data, along with collocated WWLLN lightning flashes. The majority (about 394) are found over high mountainous regions such the Himalayas, Tibet, the Andes, and the Zagros mountain regions. Low‐elevation TSFs (45) are observed over the continental and coastal regions. Though only a small number of TSFs are identified with 4 years of Global Precipitation Mission data, most TSFs have maximum radar reflectivity above 30 dBZ at temperature colder than −10 °C, which indicates the importance of the noninductive charging process in these events.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical Distribution of Thundersnow Events and Their Properties From GPM Ku‐Band Radar

Adhikari

Liu

2019

JGR Atmospheres

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“…Lightning at the location of tall man‐made objects has been documented by several investigators in the last few years (e.g., Kingfield et al, ; Schultz et al, ; Warner et al, ). Previous work by Warner et al () showed that the NLDN detected a flash within 50 km and 500 ms prior to upward lightning from a tall object.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of Lightning Within Electrified Snowfall Events Using Lightning Mapping Arrays

et al. 2018

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This study examined 34 lightning flashes within four separate thundersnow events derived from lightning mapping arrays (LMAs) in northern Alabama, central Oklahoma, and Washington DC. The goals were to characterize the in‐cloud component of each lightning flash, as well as the correspondence between the LMA observations and lightning data taken from national lightning networks like the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). Individual flashes were examined in detail to highlight several observations within the data set. The study results demonstrated that the structures of these flashes were primarily normal polarity. The mean area encompassed by this set of flashes is 375 km2, with a maximum flash extent of 2,300 km2, a minimum of 3 km2, and a median of 128 km2. An average of 2.29 NLDN flashes were recorded per LMA‐derived lightning flash. A maximum of 11 NLDN flashes were recorded in association with a single LMA‐derived flash on 10 January 2011. Additionally, seven of the 34 flashes in the study contain zero NLDN‐identified flashes. Eleven of the 34 flashes initiated from tall human‐made objects (e.g., communication towers). In at least six lightning flashes, the NLDN detected a return stroke from the cloud back to the tower and not the initial upward leader. This study also discusses lightning's interaction with the human‐built environment and provides an example of lightning within heavy snowfall observed by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite‐16's Geostationary Lightning Mapper.

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“…A new observational study (Kar and Liou, 2019) indicated that both the land and aerosol effects should be considered to explain the cloud-to-ground lightning enhancements over the urban areas. Kingfield et al (2017) also found that cloud-to-ground lightning enhancements can also be caused by the presence of tall towers. A modeling study showed urban land cover changes increased precipitation over the upstream region but decreased precipitation over the downstream region, while aerosols had the opposite effect by serving as cloud condensation nuclei (Zhong et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Urbanization-induced land and aerosol impacts on sea-breeze circulation and convective precipitation

Fan

Zhang

et al. 2020

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Changes in land cover and aerosols resulting from urbanization may impact convective clouds and precipitation. Here we investigate how Houston urbanization can modify sea-breeze-induced convective cloud and precipitation through the urban land effect and anthropogenic aerosol effect. The simulations are carried out with the Chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem), which is coupled with spectral-bin microphysics (SBM) and the multilayer urban model with a building energy model (BEM-BEP). We find that Houston urbanization (the joint effect of both urban land and anthropogenic aerosols) notably enhances storm intensity (by ∼ 75 % in maximum vertical velocity) and precipitation intensity (up to 45 %), with the anthropogenic aerosol effect more significant than the urban land effect. Urban land effect modifies convective evolution: speed up the transition from the warm cloud to mixed-phase cloud, thus initiating surface rain earlier but slowing down the convective cell dissipation, all of which result from urban heating-induced stronger sea-breeze circulation. The anthropogenic aerosol effect becomes evident after the cloud evolves into the mixed-phase cloud, accelerating the development of storm from the mixed-phase cloud to deep cloud by ∼ 40 min. Through aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI), aerosols boost convective intensity and precipitation mainly by activating numerous ultrafine particles at the mixed-phase and deep cloud stages. This work shows the importance of considering both the urban land and anthropogenic aerosol effects for understanding urbanization effects on convective clouds and precipitation.

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Antenna structures and cloud‐to‐ground lightning location: 1995–2015

Cited by 29 publications

References 33 publications

Geographical Distribution of Thundersnow Events and Their Properties From GPM Ku‐Band Radar

Geographical Distribution of Thundersnow Events and Their Properties From GPM Ku‐Band Radar

Characteristics of Lightning Within Electrified Snowfall Events Using Lightning Mapping Arrays

Urbanization-induced land and aerosol impacts on sea-breeze circulation and convective precipitation

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