Transient Luminous Events and Their Relationship to Lightning Strokes Over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Comparison Regions

Xu, Chen; Qie, Xiushu; Sun, Zhongchang; Yang, Jing; Zhang, Hongbo; Chen, Alfred

doi:10.1029/2022jd037292

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 86 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Meanwhile, the median percentage of large peak current strokes over the SE-TP (5.31%) is larger than that over the SC-TP (4.03%) (Figure 4b), aligning well with the distribution of large energy strokes. Given the higher frequency of observed elves over the SE-TP [32], the distribution of high energy and peak currents over the two regions of interest correlates well with these findings.…”

Section: Strong Lightning Strokes Over the Study Regionssupporting

confidence: 63%

“…In contrast to the distribution of lightning activities and optical radiation energy, there is a higher occurrence ratio of lightning strokes with large energy over the TP than in other regions in China (as depicted in Figure 1 of Holzworth et al [16]). Additionally, elves, sprites, and halos were observed over the TP, with the elves' parent strokes displaying higher average energy than those observed over the eastern plains [32], which seems to indicate a negative correlation between lightning energy and frequency [33,34]. However, the distribution of lightning strength over the TP has not been systematically investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The CG lightning with large peak currents mentioned in previous studies are those > |75| kA or |100| kA [7,10,[71][72][73], and the average energy associated with elves over the southeastern TP is about 97 kJ [32]. Referring to these studies, this research focuses specifically on lightning strokes with energy ≥ 100 kJ and peak currents ≥ |100| kA to investigate the distribution of strong strokes over the two regions of interest (Figure 4a,b).…”

Section: Strong Lightning Strokes Over the Study Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Lightning Stroke Strength and Its Correlation with Cloud Macro- and Microphysics over the Tibetan Plateau

Wei,

Xu,

Sun

2024

Remote Sensing

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lightning stroke strength, characterized by energy and peak currents, over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), is investigated by utilizing datasets from the World Wide Lightning Location Network and the Chinese Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Location System during 2016–2019. Focused on the south-central (SC) and southeast (SE) of the TP, it reveals that SE-TP experiences strokes with larger average energy and peak currents. Strong strokes (energy ≥ 100 kJ or peak currents ≥ |100| kA), exhibiting bimodal distribution in winter and summer, are more frequent and have larger average values over the SE-TP than the SC-TP, with diurnal distribution indicating peaks in energy and positive strokes in the middle of the night and negative strokes peaking in the morning. Utilizing the ECMWF/ERA-5 and MERRA-2 reanalysis, we find that stronger strokes correlate with thinner charge zone depths and larger CIWCFs but stable warm cloud depths and zero-degree levels over the SC-TP. Over the SE-TP, stronger strokes are associated with smaller CIWCFs and show turning points for warm cloud depths and zero-degree levels. Thicker charge zone depths correlate with stronger negative strokes but weaker positive strokes. Generating strokes of similar strength over the SC-TP requires larger CIWCFs, thinner warm cloud depths, and lower zero-degree levels than over the SE-TP.

show abstract

Section: Strong Lightning Strokes Over the Study Regionssupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Strong Lightning Strokes Over the Study Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lightning Stroke Strength and Its Correlation with Cloud Macro- and Microphysics over the Tibetan Plateau

Wei,

Xu,

Sun

2024

Remote Sensing

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As for atmospheric processes, VLF measurements have been traditionally utilized to monitor lightning discharge (e.g., Bozóki et al, 2023;Qie et al, 2013) and thunderstorm activity (e.g., Kubisz et al, 2024;Qie et al, 2022). In addition, various high-energy radiation and transient luminous events in the Earth's atmosphere are associated with unique VLF signatures (Xu, Qie, et al, 2023;Yang et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020). VLF measurements have been utilized to understand the underlying mechanism of these atmospheric events (Berge et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Periodic Oscillation of VLF Transmitter Signals Measured in Low and Middle Latitude Regions

Xu,

Feng,

et al. 2024

JGR Atmospheres

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Measurements of Very Low Frequency (VLF) signals from navy transmitters carry direct information about the D‐region ionosphere and have been widely utilized for detecting the electron density at D‐region altitudes, but not frequently for the atmospheric waves therein. Atmospheric waves have been extensively studied using the total ionospheric electron content, but if and how they are correlated with the D‐region ionosphere and VLF measurements still remains poorly investigated. In this study, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis using 7‐year measurements (2016–2022) of VLF signals from the JJI, NWC, and VTX transmitters as being recorded in Suizhou, China. These three transmitter‐receiver paths are representative and the corresponding observations constitute a valuable data set to investigate the periodicities of VLF data. Different from previous studies, we have utilized the ensemble empirical mode decomposition and Lomb‐Scargle methods to determine the periodicities of these data. By contrasting these paths, prominent periodicities ranging from 2 to 730 days have been found, with clear diurnal variation and suggestive latitudinal/longitudinal dependence. Moreover, we have found that the mesospheric temperature is closely related with the annual oscillation of VLF measurements, while this oscillation has a low correlation with solar Lyman‐α fluxes or geomagnetic activity. The oscillations with relatively shorter periods are likely atmospheric waves such as gravity waves, planetary waves, or harmonics of these waves. Our results suggest that, in addition to the electron density, the subionospheric VLF technique can be potentially utilized to remotely sense atmospheric waves that propagate up to or through the D‐region ionosphere.

show abstract

“…Stratospheric ozone thus impacts global climate through atmospheric radiative budget processes and chemical equilibrium. Blue jet (BJ) is one of the transient luminous events (e.g., Chuang & Chen, 2022; Li et al., 2023; Tomicic et al., 2023; Xu et al., 2023; Yang et al., 2020), which occurring at the altitude of the stratospheric ozone layer, therefore, the chemical impact of BJs on stratospheric chemistry is important. The physical structure of BJ includes the streamer zone and a leader channel (e.g., Raizer et al., 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detailed Modeling and Evaluation of the Potential Impact of Blue Jet on the Atmospheric Chemistry

Xu,

Huret,

Celestin

et al. 2023

JGR Atmospheres

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To evaluate the impact of a blue jet (BJ) discharge on the chemical system in the whole stratosphere as a function of altitude, we developed a detailed ion‐neutral chemistry model. The BJ discharge is formed as a streamer discharge up to 50 km with a leader part up to 28 km associated with high‐temperature chemistry. The simulations are performed in a 2‐day duration to investigate diurnal variations of chemical perturbations at the altitudes of every 2 km from 20 to 50 km. The specific chemistry processes during the leader (considering the molecular diffusion) and streamer discharges react with the whole stratospheric chemical families (oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, and bromine). We systematically compare the simulations with and without the BJ discharge. The results obtained during the first 100 s indicate the ozone enhanced in the middle stratosphere, while no obvious change in the lower and close to the top of the stratosphere. After 2 days, simulations show that the entire neutral chemical stratospheric system is modified with the enhancement of nitrogen oxides, chlorine, and bromine reservoirs. As a consequence, ozone depletion appears in the middle and upper stratosphere due to the catalytic cycle associated with reactive NOx (=NO + NO2). Each chemical family results in a new equilibrium, and the ozone layer appears to be “shifted” to a lower altitude with its maximum less abundance. Due to the long lifetimes of the chlorine and bromine reservoirs in the stratosphere, the chemical perturbations caused by the BJ discharge at all studied altitudes are maintained.

show abstract

Transient Luminous Events and Their Relationship to Lightning Strokes Over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Comparison Regions

Cited by 4 publications

References 86 publications

Lightning Stroke Strength and Its Correlation with Cloud Macro- and Microphysics over the Tibetan Plateau

Lightning Stroke Strength and Its Correlation with Cloud Macro- and Microphysics over the Tibetan Plateau

Periodic Oscillation of VLF Transmitter Signals Measured in Low and Middle Latitude Regions

Detailed Modeling and Evaluation of the Potential Impact of Blue Jet on the Atmospheric Chemistry

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About