A decade of cloud‐to‐ground lightning in Canada: 1999–2008. Part 1: Flash density and occurrence

Abstract

Flash density and occurrence features for more than 23.5 million cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning flashes detected by the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) from 1999 to 2008 are analyzed on 20 × 20 km equal area squares over Canada. This study was done to update an analysis performed in 2002 with just three years of data. Flashes were detected throughout the year, and distinct geographic differences in flash density and lightning occurrence were observed. The shape and locations of large scale patterns of lightning occurrence remained almost the same, although some details were different. Flash density maxima occurred at the same locations as found previously: the Swan Hills and Foothills of Alberta, southeastern Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba and southwestern Ontario. A region of greater lightning occurrence but relatively low flash density south of Nova Scotia occurred at the same location as reported previously. New areas of higher flash density occurred along the US border with northwestern Ontario and southern Quebec. These appear to be northward extensions of higher flash density seen in the previous study. The greatest average CG flash density was 2.8 flash km^?2 y^?1 in southwestern Ontario, where the greatest single‐year flash density (10.3 flash km^?2 y^?1) also occurred. Prominent flash density minima occurred east of the Continental Divide in Alberta and over the Niagara Escarpment in southern Ontario.

Lightning activity is seen to be highly influenced by the length of the season, proximity to cold water bodies and elevation. The diurnal heating and cooling cycle exerted the main control over lightning occurrence over most land areas; however, storm translation and transient dynamic features complicated the time pattern of lightning production. A large portion of the southern Prairie Provinces experienced more than 50% of flashes between 22:30 and 10:30 local solar time. The duration of lightning over a 20 × 20 km square at most locations in Canada is 5–10 h y^?1, although the duration exceeded 15 h y^?1 over extreme southwestern Ontario. Lightning occurred on 15–30 days each year, on average, over most of the interior of the country. The greatest number of days with lightning in a single year was 47 in the Alberta foothills and 50 in southwestern Ontario. Beginning and ending dates of the lightning season show that the season length decreases from north to south; however, there are considerable east‐west differences between regions. The season is nearly year‐round in the Pacific coastal region, southern Nova Scotia, southern Newfoundland and offshore.     

Some observations and characteristics of lightning ground discharges in southern Ontario

Abstract

Lightning ground flash and stroke observations were made with a single‐station gated, wideband magnetic direction‐finding system with a nominal range of 180 km located in Southern Ontario during the May‐September lightning‐active seasons of 1982 and 1983. Information was recorded on the azimuth of arrival, time, amplitude, stroke multiplicity and order, and polarity. The local climatology and seasonal statistics of lightning are analysed and summarized, and compared with standard observations of thunderstorm days and hours. Regional daily flashing rates and extremes for periods of 5 to 60 min were found to have a good empirical relationship. About 15% of the flashes had multiple strokes, generally less than 10 but with as many as 14 strokes. About 8% of the flashes were positive discharges; 3% of these were multistroke with no more than 2 strokes.

The lightning activity exhibits well defined diurnal peaks in the afternoon and at night 1–3 h before sunrise. The time interval between strokes was found to have a lognormal distribution with modal and median values of 60 and 75 ms, respectively, and no significant dependence on the order of stroke. The stroke‐to‐stroke amplitude changes within the same flash show that subsequent stroke amplitudes are often greater than the first. Subsequent strokes follow many patterns of change, the most common being an amplitude oscillating with ascending stroke order. The multistroke flash duration median values rose from about 80 ms for 2‐stroke flashes to about 650 ms for 8‐stroke flashes.

Under certain assumptions of system detection efficiency and range limits a regional ground flash density of 1.62 and 2.44 km^?2 a^?1 was estimated for the two years.     

雷暴天气过程中降水结构与闪电活动特征个例研究

为深入分析四川雷暴天气过程中降水和闪电活动特征,运用统计与对比方法,对四川东南部一次雷暴过程中闪电活动及降水结构之间的特征进行研究。结果表明,强降水易发生在低层辐合,高层辐散的流场中,局部地区最大降水强度发生在2~5km高度。降水开始1h后,地闪频数达到最高,地闪主要以负地闪为主,正地闪不活跃。对闪电活动与亮温分布关系知,闪电活动主要发生在低于220K降水云内,闪电活动发生的区域与降水落区一致。对总闪与地闪的分布知,负地闪主要分布在总闪的外围。通过对四川雷暴过程的研究,对雷暴预报有一定的指导意义。     

Inverted-polarity electrical structures in thunderstorms in the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS)

Balloon-borne electric field soundings and lightning mapping data have been analyzed for three of the storms that occurred in the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study field program in 2000 to determine if the storms had inverted-polarity electrical structures. The polarities of all or some of the vertically stacked charge regions in such storms are opposite to the polarities observed at comparable heights in normal storms. Analyses compared the charge structures inferred from electric field soundings in the storms with charges inferred from three-dimensional lightning mapping data. Charge structures were inferred from electric field profiles by combining the one-dimensional approximation of Gauss's law with additional information from three-dimensional patterns in the electric field vectors. The three different ways of inferring the charge structure in the storms were found to complement each other and to be consistent overall. Charge deposition by lightning possibly occurred and increased the charge complexity of one of the storms.Many of the cloud flashes in each case were inverted-polarity flashes. Two storms produced ground flash activity comprised predominantly of positive ground flashes. One storm, which was an isolated thunderstorm, produced inverted-polarity cloud flashes, but no flashes to ground. The positive and negative thunderstorm charge regions were found at altitudes where, respectively, negative and positive charge would be found in normal-polarity storms. Thus, we conclude that these storms had anomalous and inverted-polarity electrical structures. Collectively, these three cases (along with the limited cases in the refereed literature) provide additional evidence that thunderstorms can have inverted-polarity electrical structures.     

2010—2019年杭州地闪变化特征及其与海拔高度的关系

利用2010—2019年杭州闪电定位资料,通过数理统计、线性回归等方法分析了杭州市雷电活动时空变化特征及其与海拔的关系。结果表明：杭州地闪活动呈东多西少、南多北少的分布,密度高值区出现在西南部,低海拔地区的地闪频次较高海拔地区的地闪频次高。夏季地闪活动最为频繁,主要集中在7月和8月,春、秋季地闪频次差别不大,冬季地闪频次较其他三个季节少一个量级。夏季和秋季的地闪活动多发生在午后至傍晚,春季地闪活动在凌晨发生较为频繁,这可能与具有夜发性特征中尺度对流系统持续时间长有关。地闪强度绝对值主要集中在10—60 kA,正地闪均值随着海拔高度增加而增大,负地闪和总地闪的雷电流均值随海拔高度的上升呈“V”形变化。正地闪、负地闪和总地闪≤16 kA比例和≥100 kA的比例均随海拔高度增加而减小。在100—200 m的丘陵和200—500 m的小起伏山地,绕击率较高,超过1500 m的山区,≤16 kA的雷电流造成的绕击风险小;400 m及以下地区,≥100 kA的雷电流造成的反击概率大,高于1600 m的大起伏山地基本不会发生反击现象。     

西藏高原闪电特性时空分布特征

利用2009年6月至2011年5月西藏高原闪电监测系统的闪电监测资料,分析了高原闪电分布的时空特征,结果表明:高原的闪电平均强度为61.89 kA,负闪占闪电总数的78.2％,平均强度55.97 kA,正闪占21.8％,平均强度83.14 kA;雨季前的闪电中主要为正闪,正闪占73％;而雨季期间的闪电中,正闪仅占闪电总数的9％;闪电频次的日变化特征呈单峰型分布,主要集中在15:00-21:00这段午后至夜间的时段内,且在17:00达到峰值,与午后至夜间这段时间为强对流发生条件较好的时段相一致,03:00至12:00左右是高原闪电低发时段;闪电的高发地区为那曲地区中东部、昌都地区西部、日喀则地区东部及山南地区,其中负闪有两个强中心,分别位于那曲地区的嘉黎县和山南地区的朗卡子县,而在南部的错那县也为正闪强中心;闪电强度表现为冬季高、夏季低,各月的闪电平均强度均在50 kA以上;拟合出高原地区的总闪、正闪和负闪的雷电流强度累积概率方程,拟合率均达0.99以上.     

On the possibilities of thermal energy conversion in lakes

Abstract

The paper discusses the possibility of extracting electrical energy from the thermal energy stored in stratified lakes. Three situations are examined, an open lake or pond acting as a solar collector, a combination of waste heat and solar energy, and selective withdrawal of warm and cold streams from a stratified hydroelectric reservoir. Approximate calculations of the energy returns are made for typical conditions. The returns are limited by environmental factors as well as a short operating season. By using the deep stratified Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan and Ontario) as solar collectors, a few thousand megawatts of electrical power could be produced in the Great Lakes Basin during the summer months. This power could be produced on a year‐round basis by a single large nuclear generating station.     

2011年呼伦贝尔市闪电密度特征初探

利用2011年呼伦贝尔市9部ADTD型地闪定位仪提供的地闪观测资料,对呼伦贝尔市地闪发生时空分布特征进行分析。结果表明:云地闪中负闪约占92.62%;夏季地闪活动最强,春、秋两季次之,冬季最弱,地闪主要集中在7—8月;地闪的发展有明显的日变化,呈双峰双谷形式,地闪活动下午最活跃;闪电密度的空间分布与地形和下垫面的性质关系密切,地闪的大值中心位于南北走向的大兴安岭山脉东西两侧,白天地闪密度大值中心位于大兴安岭山脉与松嫩平原过渡区山坡上,而夜间地闪密度大值中心则位于呼伦贝尔高原与大兴安岭山脉的过渡区沙丘地带。     

基于卫星观测资料的全球闪电活动特征研究

利用卫星携带的闪电探测系统所获取的11年(1995年5月至2006年4月)闪电资料,对全球闪电活 动特征进行了详细分析。结果表明:全球闪电频数约为46.2 fl s^-1(fl为flash简写,表征闪电发生的次数),在30°S～30°N闪电数占全球闪电总数的78.1%,陆地和海洋的闪电密度之比为9.64:1。近海海域面积占海洋面积的近3成,但闪电数占海洋闪电总数的近7成,远海海域闪电的密度很小。陆地和近海海域闪电活动随季节变化呈现出单峰特征,峰值出现在7月。中高纬度大陆东部近海海域闪电频数大于西部,赤道附近区域相反,大陆西部近海海域闪电频数大于东部。闪电活动随海拔高度的变化呈两峰三谷的特征,两峰分别出现在海拔100～2400 m和3300～4600 m,3个低谷分别出现在海拔100 m以下、2400～3300 m和4600 m以上,这是在地理位置和海拔高度的影响下,各种因素综合作用的结果。     

OBSERVATION AND MODEL ANALYSES OF POSITIVE CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING IN MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS*

The analyses of spatial and temporal characteristics of positive cloud-to-ground(CG) lightning for four mesoscale convective systems and two severe local convective systems in 1989 and 1990 show that positive CG flash rate usually has two peak values.The major peak occurs during the developing stage of the storm and most of the positive CG flashes originate at the lower part of the storm.The minor occurs during the dissipative stage of the storm and most of the positive CG flashes originate at the upper part of the storm,especially in the region of the wind divergence in the storm anvil.The positive CG flash rate is almost an order of magnitude larger in the developing stage than in the dissipative stage.The appearing time of the peak of negative CG flash rate is in accordance with that of the valley of positive CG flash rate.The higher the intensity of the radar echo,the higher the positive CG flash rate.Most of the positive CG flashes occur when the weak echo area is larger,and mostly originate in the region where the radar echo intensity is about 10dBz and in the back region of the moving storms.The spatial distribution of the positive CG flashes is much more dispersive than that of the negative.The mesoscale analysis reveals a bipolar lightning pattern.The mean bipole-length reaches its minimum during the mature stage of the storm and reaches the maximum during the developing stage of the storm.The vertical distribution of the charge density is calculated by a one-dimensional charging model.Then,we discuss the producing condition of the positive CG lightning and forming cause of charge structure mentioned above.     

OBSERVATION AND MODEL ANALYSES OF POSITIVE CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING IN MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS

The analyses of spatial and temporal characteristics of positive cloud-to-ground(CG)lightning for four mesoscaleconvective systems and two severe local convective systems in 1989 and 1990 show that positive CG flash rate usuallyhas two peak values.The major peak occurs during the developing stage of the storm and most of the positive CGflashes originate at the lower part of the storm.The minor occurs during the dissipative stage of the storm and most ofthe positive CG flashes originate at the upper part of the storm,especially in the region of the wind divergence in thestorm anvil.The positive CG flash rate is almost an order of magnitude larger in the developing stage than in thedissipative stage.The appearing time of the peak of negative CG flash rate is in accordance with that of the valley of pos-itive CG flash rate.The higher the intensity of the radar echo,the higher the positive CG flash rate.Most of the positive CG flashes oc-cur when the weak echo area is larger,and mostly originate in the region where the radar echo intensity is about 10dBzand in the back region of the moving storms.The spatial distribution of the positive CG flashes is much more dispersivethan that of the negative.The mesoscale analysis reveals a bipolar lightning pattern.The mean bipole--length reaches itsminimum during the mature stage of the storm and reaches the maximum during the developing stage of the storm.The vertical distribution of the charge density is calculated by a one-dimensional charging model.Then,we discussthe producing condition of the positive CG lightning and forming cause of charge structure mentioned above.     

北京与兰州地区的地闪特征

利用闪电定位系统(LLS)在兰州地区和北京地区探测到的共两万多个地闪资料,对两地的正、负地闪特征进行了对比。分析发现兰州地区的正闪比例是北京地区正闪比例的5倍多。北京地区的正闪平均强度近似为负闪的3倍,而兰州地区的正闪强度只有负闪的2.2倍。无论正闪还是负闪,两地的地闪强度均是稳定的正态分布,并且与雷暴本身的特征无关,从而可用DF强度来作雷暴临近的估计。两地的正、负地闪的回击数均按指数规律下降,不过北京地区的多次回击较兰州地区的多次回击要多。两地的闪电频数都在下午后期出现峰值,但北京地区的闪电频数最大值和最小值都较兰州地区早1小时出现。 通过试验找到了地闪定向仪显示数与闪电辐射电场和放电电流的关系,扩大了地闪定向仪的利用率。     

Transient currents in the global electric circuit due to cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning

Intracloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes produce transient changes in the electric field (E) above a thundercloud which drive transient currents in the global electric circuit (GEC). Using in-cloud and above-cloud E data from balloons, ground-based E data, and Lightning Mapping Array data, the above-cloud charge transfers due to lightning transients are estimated for five IC and five CG flashes from four thunderstorms that occurred above the mountains in New Mexico, USA, in 1999. For the five CG flashes (which transferred − 4 to − 13 C to the ground), the transient currents moved + 1 to + 5 C of charge upward from cloudtop toward the ionosphere, with an average transient charge transfer of about 35% of the charge transferred to ground. For the five IC flashes (which neutralized 6 to 21 C inside the cloud), the transient currents moved − 0.7 to − 3 C upward, with an average transient charge transfer of about 12% of the lightning charge. Estimates for three thunderstorms indicate that the transient currents made only a small GEC contribution compared to the quasi-stationary Wilson currents because of the offsetting effects of IC and CG flashes in these storms. However, storms with extreme characteristics, such as high flash rates or predominance of one flash type, may make a significant GEC contribution via lightning transients.     

The characteristics of ground flashes in Beijing and Lanzhou regions

Over twenty thousand lightning location data obtained by using Lightning Location System (LLS) from Lanzhou and Beijing regions have been analysed to ascertain the characteristics of ground flashes in both regions. The strength of positive flashes is 5 times higher in Lanzhou than in Beijing. The strength of positive flashes is 3 times and 2.2 times as large as negative flashes in Beijing and in Lanzhou respectively. It has been found that the strength of positive and negative flashes is submitted to the normal distribution, and is independent of the characteristics of thunderstorm. So the lightning, strength obtained by DF may be used to forecast the coming of thunderstorm. Although the stroke number in both regions decreases as exponent regulation, the maximum number of return stroke for one lightning in Beijing is more than that in Lanzhou. The peak flash rate occurs in late afternoon for both regions, but the maximum and minimum flash rate appeared an hour earlier in Beijing than in Lanzhou.The relationship between DF display and lightning radiation electric field, discharge current is obtained.     

山东一次飑线过程的闪电特征和大风形成机制分析

利用闪电定位资料、多普勒雷达资料和卫星资料分析2016年6月13日发生在山东的一次飑线天气过程的地闪变化特征和大风形成机制,结果表明:本次过程发生在东北冷涡影响背景下,大气层结上冷下暖,随着层结不稳定性逐渐增强和不稳定能量的积蓄,在较强的深厚垂直风切变环境下触发强对流风暴进而组织成飑线.整个飑线过程中负地闪占主导地位,...     

一次暖云强降水主导的对流单体闪电活动特征

利用中国气象局雷电野外科学试验基地(CMA_FEBLS)三维闪电观测数据,结合广州双偏振雷达观测数据,分析了2017年5月7日广东一次暖云强降水对流单体的闪电活动及其与云降水结构的关系。该单体在4 h内产生1250个闪电,地闪比例约24%。绝大多数闪电出现在4~12 km高度,对应温度层为0℃至-40℃;闪电放电活动的峰值高度出现在8.5 km,对应环境温度约-19℃。分析的强降水单体宏观上呈现上正、中负、下正的三极性电荷结构,中部负电荷核心区约为-8℃至-15℃。在闪电活动区域中,由干雪粒子主导区域占比约82%,霰粒子主导区域占比约11%,且大部分与闪电活动关联的霰粒子主要位于4~8 km高度。总闪频数与30 dBZ雷达回波顶高、-20℃温度层上大于20 dBZ的回波体积具有较好的相关性。闪电活动的平均位置高度与20 dBZ雷达回波顶高和-20℃温度层上大于30 dBZ的回波体积具有较好的相关关系。闪电活动与最大降水强度之间具有较好的时序对应关系,单个闪电表征降水量的值为107 kg/fl量级。     

雷暴闪电活动特征研究进展

从一般雷暴、灾害性雷暴和台风的闪电活动特征以及雷暴闪电尺度特征四个方面对相关研究进行梳理。一般雷暴通常具有正常极性电荷结构,云/地闪比例在3左右(中纬度地区),地闪中正地闪占比为10%左右,负地闪位置往往更集中于对流区。灾害性雷暴倾向具有活跃的云闪,低比例的地闪,易出现反极性电荷结构,正地闪比例偏高。闪电活动与灾害性天气现象之间存在关联性,部分雹暴过程具有两次闪电活跃阶段。台风中大部分闪电发生在外雨带,眼壁/外雨带闪电爆发很可能预示气旋强度的增强以及路径的改变。由闪电持续时间、通道空间扩展所表征的闪电尺度与雷暴对流强度相关。弱对流雷暴或雷暴的弱对流区域可能由水平扩展、垂直分层的电荷分布形态主导,闪电频次低,闪电空间尺度大;强对流雷暴或雷暴的强对流区域可能由交错分布的小电荷区主导,闪电频次高,闪电尺度小。      

Seasonal and global NOx production by lightning estimated from the Optical Transient Detector (OTD)

The Optical Transient Detector (OTD) lightning data for the 12‐month period of 1996 are used to estimate the seasonal and global distributions of lightning‐produced NO _x . The relatively small viewing footprint and the low detection efficiency of the OTD sensor and other difficulties require extrapolations of the OTD data to the actual global flash distributions. Furthermore, available measurements for the ratios of intracloud (IC) to cloud‐to‐ground (CG) flashes have been used to partition lightning counts for IC versus CG flashes from the OTD observations. The resulting lightning distributions are then used to calculate the global and seasonal production of NO _x , assuming a NO production rate of 6.2×10²⁵ molecules for each CG flash and 8.7×10²⁴ molecules for each IC flash. Consequently, we find that CG flashes produce more NO _x than IC flashes despite fewer CG flashes by a factor of 3 or more. NO _x production by lightning varies seasonally in accordance with the global lightning distribution, with the maximum production occurring in the Northern Hemisphere in the local summer. The latitudinal distribution of NO _x production exhibits a strong seasonal variation outside the tropics with the production occurring mainly in the summer hemisphere, whereas in the tropics the production is high throughout the year. The annual contribution to NO _x production by lightning is higher in the Northern Hemisphere than that in the Southern Hemisphere.     

Anomalous lightning activity over the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo due to urban effects

A significant enhancement in the number of negative cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning and a decrease in the percentage of positive CG flashes are observed over the city of São Paulo, similar to observations in other large urban areas. Strong evidence indicates that this anomalous behavior results from several mechanisms related to the urban effect. In this paper, we investigated the importance of the air pollution using CG lightning data provided by the Brazilian lightning detection network (BrasilDAT) for a 6-year period (1999–2004). Due to the large variations in the CG lightning activity in response to different meteorological processes, it is not an easy task to infer the contribution of air pollution to the enhancement in the lightning activity. In order to overcome such difficulty, two approaches were considered: (1) the weekly variation of the number of days with lightning in comparison to the mean concentration of particulate matter (PM₁₀), as well as other thermodynamical parameters; (2) the variation of the number of CG flashes and the maximum storm flash rate per individual thunderstorm for different levels of pollution. The results of both analyses suggest that: first, the enhancement in the CG lightning activity during the week days over São Paulo metropolitan region is related to the PM₁₀ concentration (pollution); second, the PM₁₀ concentration tends to increase the lifetime of the storms and, in consequence, the number of flashes per storm, and not the flash rate of the thunderstorm; and third, the effect of the pollution in the enhancement of the CG lightning activity is probably less significant compared to the effect of the urban heat island.     

基于闪电数据的雷暴识别、追踪与外推方法

该文提出了一种新的雷暴识别、追踪与外推方法。该方法基于地闪数据,利用密度极大值快速搜索聚类算法实现雷暴的识别,采用Kalman滤波算法实现雷暴的追踪与外推。应用该方法处理了2013年的全国地闪定位数据,同时利用多普勒天气雷达等数据对选取的个例进行评估。结果表明:该方法能有效识别雷暴并对其进行实时追踪,且能有效处理雷暴分裂与合并的情况;算法具有较好的0~60 min的临近外推预报能力,各项性能指标整体与TITAN (Thunderstorm Identification, Tracking, Analysis and Nowcasting) 算法接近,在30 min时效有更好的表现。该方法能够实时监测、预报全国雷暴发生发展状况,对于0~60 min临近预报具有一定参考价值。