Some aspects of the correlation between lightning and rain activities in thunderstorms

Soula, Serge; Chauzy, Serge

doi:10.1016/s0169-8095(00)00086-7

Cited by 94 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Many studies have been conducted in order to correlate the precipitation characteristics and the lightning activity flashes (Soula and Chauzy, 2001;Tapia et al, 1998;Zhou et al, 2002;Kempf and Krider, 2003;Katsanos et al, 2007;Pineda et al, 2010). Tapia et al (1998), analyzed lightning observations from 22 thunderstorms in Florida, concluding that it is possible to derive estimates of precipitation in space and time for heavy rainfall events.…”

Section: A G Koutroulis Et Al: Lightning Activity Rainfall and Flmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their analysis was based on a simple model to estimate convective rainfall from lightning observations. Soula and Chauzy (2001) studied the correlation between lightning and rain activity on four days of thunderstorm activity in France. They found the overall spatial correlation between rain and lightning occurrence to be very consistent for all lightning types.…”

Section: A G Koutroulis Et Al: Lightning Activity Rainfall and Flmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lightning activity, rainfall and flash flooding – occasional or interrelated events? A case study in the island of Crete

Koutroulis

Grillakis

Tsanis

et al. 2012

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The majority of cyclones passing over Crete in late autumn to early winter originate from southwest, west and northwest and are of varying size and intensity. A number of these cyclones cause flash floods. The present study reports the possible relationships between lighting activity and high precipitation related to flash flood events. In this study an attempt was made to correlate the lightning number and location, recorded by the ZEUS lightning detection system, with the rainfall characteristics for sixteen rain events (4 flood and 12 non-flood events) on the island of Crete, during the period [2008][2009]. Spatiotemporal analysis of rain and rain rate with flash count was performed with respect to distance (radius) of flashes from raingauge location at various temporal scales, in order to examine the correlation of accumulated rainfall and lightning activity. The maximum attained statistical significant correlation was obtained within a circular area of an average radius of 15 km around the raingauge, and an average time lag of flash count prior precipitation accumulation of 15 min. The maximum correlation between the lightning and rainfall data is obtained for shorter time lags for the flood events (15 min) than the non-flood events (25 min), that could reflect the faster propagation of flood triggering storms due to high convective activity. Results show increased lightning activity occurring during flood triggering storms, by an average of four times higher. Furthermore, there is evidence that the number of flashes that occur during a precipitation event is related to precipitation depth when the latter is adequate to produce a flood event. Differences between flood and non-flood producing storms need to be further assessed by analyzing more independent parameters, including the synoptic conditions and dominant flash flood hydrological generating processes.

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Section: A G Koutroulis Et Al: Lightning Activity Rainfall and Flmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A G Koutroulis Et Al: Lightning Activity Rainfall and Flmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lightning activity, rainfall and flash flooding – occasional or interrelated events? A case study in the island of Crete

Koutroulis

Grillakis

Tsanis

et al. 2012

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…[28] Although many papers point to a high positive correlation between convective precipitation and lightning [Soula and Chauzy, 2001;Seity et al, 2001;Sheridan et al, 1997], it does not show up in this East Asian regime. During the Mei-Yu season, heavy precipitation is frequent but lightning is not.…”

Section: Correlations Between Lightning and Thundercloud Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Latham et al [2004] extended the hypothesis and lightning models to derive a direct rela-tionship between lightning frequency and precipitation rate. In addition, observations also indicate a close link between convective rainfall and lightning, both for individual (or ensemble) storms [Soula and Chauzy, 2001;Seity et al, 2001] and for long temporal and large spatial domains [e.g., Sheridan et al, 1997;Petersen and Rutledge, 1998;Soriano et al, 2001]. The rain rate-lightning relationship has further been employed to improve the estimation of convective rainfall in specific regions [Tapia et al, 1998;Grecu et al, 2000;Soriano and De Pablo, 2003].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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“…Bearing in mind the above, the negative slopes found in the present study could be an indication that in the cases studied here the rainfall volume per lightning is highly variable. In studying the correlations between lightning and rainfall, Soula and Chauzy (2001) noted that positive cloud-to-ground flashes are associated with higher rainwater volume than negative flashes and a correction on the basis of this finding improved the relationships established. In the present paper, there has been no distinction between positive and negative flashes and therefore the negative slopes could be, at least partly, ascribed to a dominance of the negative flashes in some cases.…”

Section: Slope Of the Regression Linementioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between lightning and rainfall intensities during rainy events in Cyprus

Michaelides¹,

Savvidou²,

Nicolaides³

2010

Adv. Geosci.

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Abstract. The objective of this work is to study the relationship between the number of lightning recorded by a network of lightning detectors and the amount of rainfall recorded by the network of automatic rain gauges, during rainy events in Cyprus. This study aims at revealing possible temporal and spatial "relationships" between rainfall and lightning intensities. The data used are based on the available records of hourly rainfall data and the "associated" lightning data, with respect to both time and space. The search for temporal and spatial relationships between lightning and rainfall is made by considering various time-lags between lightning and rainfall, and by varying the area around the rain gauge which the associated lightning data set refers to. The methodology adopted in this paper is a statistical one and rainy events registered under the European Project "FLASH" are examined herein.

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Some aspects of the correlation between lightning and rain activities in thunderstorms

Cited by 94 publications

References 16 publications

Lightning activity, rainfall and flash flooding – occasional or interrelated events? A case study in the island of Crete

Lightning activity, rainfall and flash flooding – occasional or interrelated events? A case study in the island of Crete

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

Relationships between lightning and rainfall intensities during rainy events in Cyprus

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