WWLLN Hot and Cold-Spots of Lightning Activity and Their Relation to Climate in an Extended Central America Region 2012–2020

Amador, Jorge A.; Arce-Fernández, Dayanna

doi:10.3390/atmos13010076

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(130 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Hence there is no reason to expect any direct relationship between mean daily CAPE and thermodynamic structures in areas of thermal coupling. However, for convective scales, results shown in Figure 7 are highly consistent, seasonally and regionally, with the average monthly lightning density values using data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) for 2012–2020 (Amador and Arce‐Fernández, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Atmospheric circulation types controlling rainfall in the Central American Isthmus

Hidalgo

Muñoz

et al. 2022

Intl Journal of Climatology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rainfall mechanisms in the Central American Isthmus are controlled by complex physical interactions across spatial and temporal scales, which are reflected on the dynamics of atmospheric circulation patterns affecting the region. However, physical mechanisms and their relationships with thermodynamic distributions connected to overturning circulations remain elusive. Here, a set of six recurrent daily atmospheric patterns, or weather types (WT), is defined using a k-means++ clustering algorithm on standardized fields of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and winds at 925, 850, and 200 hPa. The relationships between these weather types, their temporal characteristics, and anomalous distributions of moisture flux divergence, equivalent potential temperature (saturated and unsaturated), and observed rainfall areu s e dt od e s c r i b ep h y s i c a lp r o c e s s e s controlling the latter, for all seasons. Regional observed rainfall is analysed from a set of 174 automatic stations from all countries from Mexico to Panama. By modulating vertically integrated moisture fluxes, these weather types, and the different climate drivers linked to them, control the temporal and spatial rainfall characteristics in the region, especially over the Pacific side of the isthmus. During some stages of the regional rainy season, described by two weather types, thermal anomalies in convective quasiequilibrium characteristic of the upward branch of the Hadley cell force westerly flow over Central America, enhancing rainfall. While during other stages, the enhancement of the trades and the displacement of convection to the ITCZ area over the eastern tropical Pacific, characteristic of the midsummer drought, diminishes rainfall. This study sets the stage for a better understanding of the mechanistic relationship between these weather types and rainfall characteristics in general, like onset, demise, and duration of rainy seasons. Hence, these results can inform process-based model diagnostics aiming at bias-correcting climate predictions at multiple timescales.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Atmospheric circulation types controlling rainfall in the Central American Isthmus

Hidalgo

Muñoz

et al. 2022

Intl Journal of Climatology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This issue is particularly difficult to explain since the CLLJ reaches its maximum intensity at 925 hPa and largest tropospheric depth in July, but it could be related to changes in the meridional wind component from February to July in response to land−ocean thermal contrasts during the summer season of each hemisphere(Amador 2008). The Papagayo jet, a strong mechanism associated with the MSD and other features in the ETP(Amador & Arce-Fernández 2022), is underestimated by all simulations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Central America and Mexico (CAM) are vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events that lead to prominent socioeconomic impacts (Amador 2011, Amador & Arce-Fernández 2022. In Central America during 2002−2012, about 2000 deaths and losses of >US$4 billion were caused by tropical cyclone activity and other hydrometeorological events (Amador & Alfaro 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of precipitation and atmospheric low-level circulation patterns to domain size and choice of parameterization schemes in RegCM4.4 over Central America

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The sensitivity of regional climate model simulations to domain size and position is becoming increasingly important for generating reliable climate scenarios. In this study, the Central America CORDEX domain (CCA) at 50 km horizontal resolution with a relaxation zone of 10° around the boundaries (CCA+) was taken as the basis to increase domain size in the RegCM4.4 model. The low-level circulation and precipitation patterns over Central America, the western Caribbean Sea, and the eastern tropical Pacific do not show strong sensitivity to domain size changes for an area increment of 18, 32, and 52% with respect to the size of CCA+. The physical configuration in RegCM4.4 has a greater impact on the representation of relevant climate characteristics and atmospheric processes. Simulated 925 hPa winds over the Caribbean low-level jet (CLLJ) region show unrealistic winter and summer intensities, especially in July. Similar issues were found in other studies for the CCA domain, using different models and physical configurations. A reduction of the critical Richardson number in the selected planetary boundary layer scheme resulted in little change in the strength of the summer component of the CLLJ. The model simulations do not completely capture key regional precipitation patterns such as the mid-summer drought, due to limitations in adequately representing low-level circulation. However, simulations using the Grell cumulus parameterization perform relatively better than those using a mixed scheme (Grell over land-Emanuel over ocean).

show abstract

“…Additionally, the mountain ranges that enclose the city give rise to the formation of various microclimates. Indeed, being in the middle of mountains cause daytime warming that favors the development of large cumulus vertical clouds [12]. This phenomenon generates more significant internal movement within the clouds, which have negative and positive charges, generating instability and producing two interrelated elements: lightning flashes and thunder.…”

Section: Medellínmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coldspots were also found on this continent, which implies a minimum vulnerability to human impacts and some industries; they were located on the Caribbean Sea side of Central America [12]. All the hotspots in Oceania were located on the north coast of Australia, except for the fifth hotspot, established in Papua New Guinea [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Determination of Zones and Tall Structures with the Greatest Number of Lightning Strikes

Mora

Rojas-Avellaneda

Murillo

et al. 2022

TecnoL.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High lightning activity sites have been characterized using methodologies based on the spatial occurrence of lightning through parameters such as Ground Flash Density, GFD. This work found the areas with the highest number of lightning strikes (hotspots) in some Colombian cities through a methodology based on the temporal occurrence of lightning. Likewise, the influence of elevated structures on lightning activity in these regions is determined. Polygons of 600 meters on each side were located on the surface of the study cities. Based on lightning information (strokes) provided by the Colombian Network of Total Lightning Detection with LINET technology between 2016 and 2018, the number of impacts per polygon was determined, making it possible to identify the areas in which the incidence of lightning is recurrent. Elevated structures were located in each of the study cities to determine which of them corresponded to hotspots. The results showed that the main hotspots are far from urban areas and that most of these sites coincide with elevated structures. Possible causes of these lightning strikes are also explained, such as meteorological variables, relief, precipitation, and charge distributions in storm clouds. Urbanism is found to have a marked influence on the determination of hotspots and that urbanism and elevated structures increase lightning activity in the study areas.

show abstract

WWLLN Hot and Cold-Spots of Lightning Activity and Their Relation to Climate in an Extended Central America Region 2012–2020

Cited by 4 publications

References 49 publications

Atmospheric circulation types controlling rainfall in the Central American Isthmus

Atmospheric circulation types controlling rainfall in the Central American Isthmus

Sensitivity of precipitation and atmospheric low-level circulation patterns to domain size and choice of parameterization schemes in RegCM4.4 over Central America

Determination of Zones and Tall Structures with the Greatest Number of Lightning Strikes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About