Diurnal and spatial variabilities of monsoonal CG lightning and precipitation and their association with the synoptic weather conditions over South Korea

The spatial and temporal variations in cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning and precipitation during the summer monsoon months in Korea have been analyzed in relation to the regional synoptic weather conditions. The lightning data used in this study were collected from a lightning detection network installed by the Korean Meteorological Administration, while the precipitation data were collected from 386 Automatic Weather Stations spread over the entire Korean Peninsula during 2000 to 2001. A distinctive morning peak of precipitation is observed over the midwest region of Korea. Along the east coast, little precipitation and CG flash counts are found. Despite the strong afternoon peaks of convective rainfall due to the high elevation over the southern inland region, the south coast shows nocturnal or early morning peaks, which represents a common oceanic pattern of flash counts. In 2000, the nighttime peak for lightning counts dominates over the southern area, while the afternoon peak was strong in the midland during the summer, mainly due to the northward transportation of moisture to the Korean Peninsula. Conversely, the strong afternoon peak for the southern region was confronted with early morning peaks in the midwestern region during 2001. The eastward transport of moisture has been analyzed and was considered to be dominant in 2001. The study of several warm and cold type fronts in 2000 and 2001 indicate that the warm type fronts in 2000 were associated with very little lightning, while the cold type fronts appeared to be responsible for the occurrence of abundant lightning in 2001, thereby, indicating that the warm and cold type fronts were representative of the local lightning distribution in the respective years.