Optical observations of transient luminous events associated with winter thunderstorms near the coast of Israel

We report the results of two observation campaigns conducted during the Northern Hemisphere winters of 2005–6 and 2006–7 aiming to detect transient luminous events (TLEs) above winter thunderstorms in the vicinity of Israel and the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. In 10 out of 31 different observation nights we detected 66 events: 56 sprites and 10 Elves. The detection ranges varied from 250 to 450 km. Sprites were found to be produced by active cells with a vertical dimension of 5–9 km and cloud top temperature ~ − 40 °C, embedded in a much larger matrix of stratiform precipitating cloudiness. This configuration closely resembles the conditions for winter sprites in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Synchronized with the optical observations, ELF data were recorded at two observation stations in Israel and Hungary in order to qualify and quantify parameters of the parent lightning discharge associated with the TLEs. These stations are located 500 km and 2100 km respectively from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, where most TLEs occur. Among the optically observed TLE events, we found that all the ELF signals were produced solely by positive cloud-to-ground flashes (+ CGs), most of which were recorded in Israel (88%) and Hungary (77%). Calculation of the Charge Moment Change showed average values of 1400 ± 600 C km, with some extreme events exceeding 3500 C km. The average time delay between the ELF transient of the parent + CG and the observed sprites was 55 ms, with shorter delays for column sprites (42 ± 34 ms) compared to carrot sprites (68 ± 34). Furthermore, based on the ELF data, there were no early identifiable precursors to TLE occurrence in the regional lightning activity. From the spatial formation of the observed columniform sprites, we propose that columniform sprites are sometimes arranged in a 3-dimensional circular pattern, thus mapping the instantaneous electric field in the mesosphere.     

Study of the total lightning activity in a hailstorm

A thunderstorm that developed over northeastern Spain on 16 June 2006 is analyzed. This severe thunderstorm produced hailstones as large as 40 mm and had a lifetime of 3 h and 30 min. Radar cross-sections show strong vertical development with cloud echo tops reaching an altitude of 13 km. The specific characteristics of the lightning activity of this storm were: (i) a large amount (81%) of negative cloud-to-ground (−CG) flashes with very low peak currents (< 10 kA in absolute value), (ii) a very large proportion of intra-cloud (IC) flashes with an IC/CG ratio reaching about 400, (iii) a large number of “short” IC flashes (with only 1-VHF source according to SAFIR detection), (iv) a large increase of the −CG flash rate and of the CG proportion near the end of the storm. The rate of −CG flashes with a low peak current were observed to evolve similarly to the rates of IC flashes. Most of them have been assumed to be IC flashes misclassified by the Spanish Lightning Detection Network (SLDN). They have been filtered as it is usually done for misclassified +CG flashes. After this filtering, CG flash rates remained very low (< 1 min^− 1) with +CG flashes sometimes dominant. All the particular lightning activity characteristics similar to those observed in the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) campaigns support the hypothesis that this thunderstorm could have had an inverted-polarity or complex charge structure. The maximum IC flash rate (67 min^− 1) peaked 24 min before the presence of reflectivity higher than 60 dBZ. The IC activity abruptly decreased during the period when reflectivity was dramatically increasing. The time of maximum reflectivity observed by radar was consistent with the times of reported hail at the ground.     

华北地区一次中尺度对流系统上方的Sprite放电现象及其对应的雷达回波和闪电特征

利用低光度相机首次观测到了2013年7月31日华北地区一次中尺度对流系统(MCS)上空产生的中高层Sprite放电现象。结合闪电定位、天气雷达等同步观测, 对一次MCS诱发的Sprite的形态学特征及其对应的母体闪电和雷暴系统的雷达回波特征等进行了详细分析。研究除发现了2例圆柱型、3例胡萝卜型和1例舞蹈型 Sprite外, 还发现了2例发光主体发育不完全的Y字型Sprite。估算的Sprite的底部平均高度低于61.8±3.5 km, 顶部平均高度为84.3±6.8 km。Sprite持续时间算术平均值为25.7±9.8 ms, 几何平均值为24.4 ms。Sprite的母体闪电均为正地闪, 峰值电流在+62.5～+106.2 kA之间, 算术平均值为+77.1±22.2 kA, 是本次MCS所有正地闪平均峰值电流的1.4倍。Sprite母体闪电的脉冲电荷矩变化(iCMC)在+475～+922 C km之间, 几何平均值为+571.0 C km。Sprite母体闪电发生在MCS雷达回波25～35 dBZ的层状云降水区, 弱回波(<30 dBZ)面积的突然增加对Sprite的产生有重要指示作用。Sprite易发生在MCS成熟—消散阶段正地闪比例(POP)显著增加的时段。在本次MCS消散阶段中, 有两个时间段可能有利于产生Sprite。在Sprite集中发生时间段, 北京闪电综合探测网(BLNET)探测到的正地闪比例为54.2%, 正地闪连续电流比例70.24%, 连续电流持续时间为58.17±50.31 ms, 有利于Sprite的产生。     

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 cloud-to-ground lightning activity in hailstorms over northern China

The characteristics of cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning for ten hailstorms in Shandong Province of China were analyzed statistically. It is found that the hailstorms in this study present dominant positive CG flashes during periods of falling hail. One specific hailstorm on 16 June 2006 was studied in detail using the data from a CG lightning location network, Doppler radar and cloud images. Comparison between the brightness temperature of cloud-top and CG flash locations indicated that most flashes occurred in the region with temperatures lower than − 40 °C, while dense positive CG flashes occurred in the range between − 40 °C and − 50 °C. Negative CG flashes occurred mostly in the relative weak radar echo region, and positive CG flashes were distributed in the strong echo region especially with a large gradient of echo intensity. CG flashes tended to occur in the cloud region with reflectivity between 25 dBZ and 35 dBZ. Comparison between the wind field retrieved from Doppler radar and the location of CG flashes indicated that the flashes were located in the convergent region at lower to middle levels.     

Case studies of sprite-producing and non-sprite-producing summer thunderstorms

Three summer thunderstorms in the eastern region of China were analyzed in detail using multiple data, including Doppler radar, lightning location network, TRMM （Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission）, MT- SAT （Multi-Function Transport Satellite） images, NCEP （National Centers for Environmental Prediction） Reanalysis, and radiosonde. Two of the three storms were sprite-producing and the other was non-sprite- producing. The two sprite-producing storms occurred on 1 2 August and 2~28 July 2007, producing 16 and one sprite, respectively. The non-sprite-producing storm occurred on 29-30 July 2007. The major ob- jective of the study was to try to find possible differences between sprite-producing and non-sprite producing storms using the multiple datasets. The results showed that the convection in the 1-2 August storm was the strongest compared with the other storms, and it produced the largest number of sprites. Precipitation ice, cloud ice and cloud water content in the convective regions in the 1-2 August storm were larger than in the other two storms, but the opposite was true in the weak convective regions. The storm microphysical prop- erties along lines through parent CG （cloud-to-ground lightning） locations showed no special characteristics related to sprites. The flash rate evolution in the 1-2 August storm provided additional confirmation that major sprite activity coincides with a rapid decrease in the negative CG flash rate. However, the evolution curve of the CG flash rate was erratic in the sprite-producing storm on 27-28 July, which was significantly different from that in the 1 2 August storm. The average positive CG peak current in sprite-producing storms was larger than that in the non-sprite-producing one.     

Charge source of cloud-to-ground lightning and charge structure of a typical thunderstorm in the Chinese Inland Plateau

GPS-synchronized measurements of electric (E) field changes induced by lightning flashes were recorded at six stations in the northeastern verge of the Tibetan Plateau. The height and magnitude of charge neutralized by 65 return strokes, including 16 negative cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes and 2 positive CG flashes, have been fitted with the nonlinear least-square method based on the E field changes of CG flashes observed in a typical thunderstorm with larger-than-usual lower positive charge center (LPCC). Results show that the height of the charge region neutralized by negative CG flashes ranges from 3 km to 5 km above the ground, corresponding to an ambient temperature between − 2 °C and − 15 °C. For the two positive CG flashes, the neutralized charge regions are located at a height of about 5.5 km and the ambient temperature is about − 18 °C, indicating the existence of upper positive charge in the thunderstorm.     

Locating Parent Lightning Strokes of Sprites Observed over a Mesoscale Convective System in Shandong Province,China

In this paper, we report the location results for the parent lightning strokes of more than 30 red sprites observed over an asymmetric mesoscale convective system(MCS) on 30 July 2015 in Shandong Province, China, with a long-baseline lightning location network of very-low-frequency/low-frequency magnetic field sensors. The results show that almost all of these cloud-to-ground(CG) strokes are produced during the mature stage of the MCS, and are predominantly located in the trailing stratiform region, which is similar to analyses of sprite-productive MCSs in North America and Europe. Comparison between the location results for the sprite-producing CG strokes and those provided by the World Wide Lightning Location Network(WWLLN) indicates that the location accuracy of WWLLN for intense CG strokes in Shandong Province is typically within 10 km, which is consistent with the result based on analysis of 2838 sprite-producing CG strokes in the continental United States. Also, we analyze two cases where some minor lightning discharges in the parent flash of sprites can also be located, providing an approach to confine the thundercloud region tapped by the sprite-producing CG strokes.     

北美地区一次冬季中尺度对流系统上空红色精灵现象的空间观测及其母体雷暴分析

红色精灵是发生在雷暴云上空的一种大尺度瞬态放电发光现象,它们通常出现在地面上空40～90 km之间,是由地闪回击和随后可能存在的连续电流产生的。目前,由于综合同步观测资料较少,与夏季红色精灵相比,全世界对冬季红色精灵的研究屈指可数。2008年12月27～28日,受高空槽及低层暖湿气流的影响,北美阿肯色州地区爆发了一次冬季雷暴天气过程,搭载于FORMOSAT-2卫星上的ISUAL（Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning）探测器有幸在这次雷暴上空记录到了两例红色精灵事件。本文利用ISUAL获取的红色精灵观测资料、多普勒天气雷达资料、美国国家闪电定位资料、超低频磁场数据、美国国家环境中心/气候预测中心提供的云顶亮温和探空数据等综合观测数据,对产生红色精灵的这次冬季雷暴特征和相关闪电活动规律进行了详细研究。结果表明,在两例红色精灵中,ISUAL均未观测到伴随的“光晕（halo）”现象,第一例为“圆柱状”红色精灵,第二例红色精灵由于发光较暗,无法判断其具体形态。产生红色精灵的母体雷暴是一次中尺度对流系统,该系统于27日15:00（协调世界时,下同）左右出现在阿肯色州北部附近,并自西向东移动。23:59系统发展到最强,最大雷达反射率因子（55～60 dBZ）的面积达到339 km2,之后开始减弱。03:03雷暴强度有所增加,随后云体便逐渐扩散,雷暴开始减弱,并在11:00完全消散。两例红色精灵发生分别在04:46:05和04:47:14,此时雷暴处于消散阶段,正负地闪频数均处于一个较低水平且正地闪比例显著增加,并且多位于云顶亮温?40°C～?50°C的层状云区上空。红色精灵的出现伴随着30～35 dBZ回波面积的增加。在红色精灵发生期间,雷达反射率大于40 dBZ的面积减少,10～40 dBZ的面积增加,表明红色精灵的产生与雷暴对流的减弱和层状云区的发展有关,这与已有的夏季红色精灵的研究结果类似。红色精灵的母体闪电为正地闪单回击,位于中尺度对流系统雷达反射率为25～35 dBZ的层状云降水区,对应的雷达回波顶高分别为2.5 km和5 km,峰值电流分别为+183 kA和+45 kA。根据超低频磁场数据估算两个母体闪电的脉冲电荷矩变化（iCMC）分别为+394 C km和+117 C km。超低频磁天线记录到了第一例红色精灵内部的电流信号,表明这例红色精灵放电很强。     

Characteristics of negative lightning flashes presenting multiple-ground terminations on a millisecond-scale

By using a high-speed video camera system (1000 frames s^− 1) in correlation with fast and slow antenna systems, the negative cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes that struck the ground with more than one termination have been analyzed. This kind of stroke, named as multiple-ground terminations stroke (MGTS), was produced by different branches of the same stepped leader during quite a short time. Based on optical images, the 2D progression speed of leader branches was estimated to be in the range (0.9–2.0) × 10⁵ m s^− 1. The distance between adjacent striking points of MGTS was from 0.2 km to 1.9 km. The percentage of flashes with multiple-ground terminations occupied about 15% (9 out of 59) of the total negative CG flashes, with a range of 11%–20% in different areas in China. The time intervals between the two adjacent peaks ranged from 4 μs to 486 μs based on the E-field change caused by the MGTS. The flashes which had multiple striking points on the ground during quite a short time may be a common phenomenon in the lightning discharge process. It might produce more serious damage to facilities on the ground and should not be neglected in the design of lightning protection.     

Lightning and Doppler radar observations of a squall line system

A typical squall line with damaging wind and hailstones occurred on 28 April 2006 in Shandong Province, middle eastern China, and caused great economic loss. The characteristics of cloud-to-ground lightning (CG) in the squall line were studied in detail by combining the data from the ground-based CG location network, two Doppler radars and the Lightning Imaging Sensor on the TRMM satellite. Results show that positive CG flashes accounted for 54.7% of the total CG flashes. During the initial developing stage, the CG flash rate was lower than 0.5fl min^{− 1} and most of the CG flashes were positive. It increased significantly, up to 4.5fl min^{− 1}, along with the rapid development of the squall line, and the percentage of positive CG was more than 75% during this period. The CG flash rate began to decrease but the percentage of negative CG flash increased gradually and exceeded that of positive CG during the mature and dissipating stages. Positive CG flashes tended to occur on the right flank and negative ones on the left flank. Strong wind at the surface occurred in or near the regions with dense positive CG flashes. Almost all positive CG flashes occurred near the strong radar echo regions, in the front parts of the squall line. However, the negative CG flashes almost exclusively occurred in the regions with weak and uniform radar echoes. The total flash rate in the storm was very high, up to 136fl min^{− 1}, and its ratio of intracloud flashes (IC) to CG flashes was 35:1. Dense positive CG flashes corresponded to updraft regions, they did not occur in the core of the updraft, but just behind and close to the main updraft instead. The rear inflow jet, between 3 and 6 km, played an important role in the formation of the bow echo and very strong wind at surface. The CG distribution features in the squall line were obviously different from that of an ordinary MCS. The charge structure could be roughly described as an inverted charge structure.     

In situ measurements of contributions to the global electrical circuit by a thunderstorm in southeastern Brazil

The global electrical circuit, which maintains a potential of about 280 kV between the earth and the ionosphere, is thought to be driven mainly by thunderstorms and lightning. However, very few in situ measurements of electrical current above thunderstorms have been successfully obtained. In this paper, we present dc to very low frequency electric fields and atmospheric conductivity measured in the stratosphere (30–35 km altitude) above an active thunderstorm in southeastern Brazil. From these measurements, we estimate the mean quasi-static conduction current during the storm period to be 2.5 ± 1.25 A. Additionally, we examine the transient conduction currents following a large positive cloud-to-ground (+ CG) lightning flash and typical − CG flashes. We find that the majority of the total current is attributed to the quasi-static thundercloud charge, rather than lightning, which supports the classical Wilson model for the global electrical circuit.     

Analysis of a Mesoscale Convective System that Produced a Single Sprite

Sprites are brief optical emissions occurring above thunderstorms. Features of sprites and their parent thunderstorms and lightning activities have been studied by many researchers. Here, we report a single sprite recorded over a mesoscale convective system during its life cycle in Northeast China. The results show that the sprite might have been a dancing one,with a 20 km horizontal displacement from its parent cloud-to-ground flash(CG) and a 38 ms time delay; all the sprite elements occurred during the continuing current process of the parent flash. The peak current of the parent CG was the largest during the almost one-hour time window containing the sprite, and the absolute values of all the negative flashes were smaller than 100 k A during the same time period and did not produce sprite. The sprite did not occur during the time period in which the maximum area of the thunderstorm reached. The occurrence of sprite corresponded well with the decay of the thunderstorm convection, and no significant relationship between the occurrence of sprite and the increase in the 30–35 d BZ and 35–40 d BZ interval was found. The large wind gradient in the 8–12 km region of the thunderstorm may have played an important role in the sprite production.     

Luminosity characteristics of leaders in natural cloud-to-ground lightning flashes

Using high-speed cameras, we have recorded the leaders contained in four natural negative cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes in the summers of 2006 and 2007 at Conghua, Guangdong, China. It was found that the downward negative leaders preceding the first return stroke could propagate at quite different speeds. In one flash, the average speed of the downward negative stepped leader with no branches is about 2.2 × 10⁶ m s^− 1, while that of the other 3 flashes are all of the order of 10⁵ m s^− 1 with multilevel branches. The luminosity of the leaders shows an increasing tendency in propagating downward to the ground. For the leaders preceding the subsequent strokes, although all of them exhibit high speeds as reported previously. One subsequent leader exhibits an increasing speed from 5.2 × 10⁵ m s^− 1 to 1.7 × 10⁶ m s^− 1 during its propagation from about 1.26 to 0.36 km above the ground, and its luminosity also increased. The speed and luminosity of a leader between subsequent strokes of a natural lightning appear to decrease as it developed downward. Its speed ranges from 1.1 × 10⁶ to 1.1 × 10⁵ m s^− 1, with a height between 1.15 and 0.81 km above the ground.     

Characteristics of cloud-to-ground lightning in warm-season thunderstorms in the Central Great Plains

In July 2005, a field campaign was conducted in the Central Great Plains to obtain 60-field/s video imagery of lightning in correlation with reports from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and broadband electric field waveforms from the Los Alamos Sferic Array (LASA). A total of 342 GPS time-stamped cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes were recorded in 17 different sessions, and 311 (91%) of these were correlated with reports from the NLDN. Only 6 of the 17 recording sessions were dominated by flashes that lowered negative charge to ground, and 11 were dominated by positive CG flashes. A total of 103 flashes recorded on video were correlated with at least one NLDN report of negative CG strokes, 204 video flashes were correlated with one or two positive stroke reports, and 4 had bipolar reports. In this paper, we will give distributions of the estimated peak current, I_p, as reported by the NLDN, of negative and positive first strokes that were recorded on video, the multiplicity of strokes that were recorded on video, and the number of ground contacts per flash that were resolved on video. 41 (40%) of the negative flashes produced just a single-stroke on video, and 62 (60%) showed two or more strokes. The observed multiplicity of negative flashes averaged 2.83, which becomes about 3.14 after correcting for the finite time-resolution of the video camera. 195 (96%) of the positive flashes produced just a single-stroke on video, and 9 (4%) showed two strokes; therefore, the observed multiplicity of positive flashes averaged 1.04. Five out of 9 (56%) of the positive subsequent strokes re-illuminated a previous channel, and 4 out of 9 (44%) created a new ground contact. Simultaneous video, LASA, and NLDN measurements also allowed us to examine the classification of NLDN reports during 3 single-cell storms (one negative and two positive). Based on the LASA waveforms, a total of 204 out of 376 (54%) NLDN reports of CG strokes were determined to be for cloud pulses. The misclassified negative reports had |I_p| values ranging from 3.8 kA to 29.7 kA, but only 58 (24%) of these had |I_p| > 10 kA, and only one misclassified positive report had I_p > 20 kA. Radar analyses showed that most of the negative and positive CG strokes that were recorded on video were produced within or near the convective cores of storms. The radar imagery also showed that single-cell storms tended to produce one polarity of CG flashes at a time, and that such storms could switch rapidly from negative to positive CG flashes when the reflectivity was near maximum. Multiple-cell storms produced both negative and positive flashes over a broad region, but each polarity tended to cluster near regions of high-reflectivity.     

Lightning activity related to satellite and radar observations of a mesoscale convective system over Texas on 7–8 April 2002

A multi-sensor study of the leading-line, trailing-stratiform (LLTS) mesoscale convective system (MCS) that developed over Texas in the afternoon of 7 April 2002 is presented. The analysis relies mainly on operationally available data sources such as GOES East satellite imagery, WSR-88D radar data and NLDN cloud-to-ground flash data. In addition, total lightning information in three dimensions from the LDAR II network in the Dallas–Ft. Worth region is used.GOES East satellite imagery revealed several ring-like cloud top structures with a diameter of about 100 km during MCS formation. The Throckmorton tornadic supercell, which had formed just ahead of the developing linear MCS, was characterized by a high CG+ percentage below a V-shaped cloud top overshoot north of the tornado swath. There were indications of the presence of a tilted electrical dipole in this storm. Also this supercell had low average CG− first stroke currents and flash multiplicities. Interestingly, especially the average CG+ flash multiplicity in the Throckmorton storm showed oscillations with an estimated period of about 15 min.Later on, in the mature LLTS MCS, the radar versus lightning activity comparison revealed two dominant discharge regions at the back of the convective leading edge and a gentle descent of the upper intracloud lightning region into the trailing stratiform region, apparently coupled to hydrometeor sedimentation. There was evidence for an inverted dipole in the stratiform region of the LLTS MCS, and CG+ flashes from the stratiform region had high first return stroke peak currents.     

中国东北地区红色精灵的母体雷暴分析

红色精灵是发生在雷暴云上空的一种瞬态发光事件（Transient Luminous Events,TLEs）,它们由地闪回击或与连续电流共同作用产生,这表明了对流层和低电离层之间的直接耦合关系。中国大陆的红色精灵观测研究主要在华北地区开展,为了进一步研究中国中高纬度地区的红色精灵现象,并揭示其与母体雷暴之间的相关性,故2017年夏季在吉林辽源开展了观测实验。本文介绍了利用低光度相机在东北地区捕捉到的26例红色精灵事件,并结合闪电定位、天气雷达等同步观测数据,对红色精灵及其母体雷暴特征进行了分析。结果表明,在26例红色精灵事件中,有17次（约2/3）产生于一次尺度较大的中尺度对流系统（Mesoscale Convective System,MCS）,其余（约1/3）的红色精灵事件分别由三次尺度相对较小的中尺度对流系统诱发产生。红色精灵母体闪电均位于对流核心边缘区域,中尺度对流系统对流区后无大面积层状云降水区。此外,吉林辽源及安徽合肥同步记录的电磁场脉冲信号表明上述红色精灵事件均由正地闪回击产生。     

2019年马六甲地区红色精灵观测及母体雷暴分析

红色精灵是一种发生于闪电放电活跃的雷暴云上空的中高层大气瞬态发光现象,它们通常由中尺度对流系统层状云降水区内的强地闪回击产生,是对流层和中间层之间的一种能量耦合过程.目前,有关中国南海及东南亚地区的红色精灵观测鲜有报道.为了进一步了解热带地区产生红色精灵事件的沿海性雷暴特征,于2019年利用低光度光学观测系统和低频磁场...     

Rainfall yield characteristics of electrical storm observed in the Spanish Basque Country area during the period 1992–1996

This paper is focused on the study of rainfall yield characteristics of electrical storms observed over the Northern Iberian Peninsula during 1992–1996. To this aim Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) method have been used. The SOM method is a group of artificial neural networks based on the topological properties of the human brain. Results clearly suggest that there exist three different meteorological patterns that are linked to the characteristics of electrical events found in the study area. In winter, most of the electrical events are formed under oceanic advection (NW air fluxes). On these cases, mean rainfall yield estimates reach values of 700 10⁴ m³ per cloud to ground lightning flash (CG flash). During summer most frequent electrical storms are associated to local instability shooting by surface heating with advection of humidity coming from the Iberian Peninsula. Under these meteorological situations, rain is scarcer if compared with oceanic events but lightning CG counts reach the maximum values found in the area (about 10 CG counts per 20 × 20 km² and day) giving this way the smallest rainfall yield with a mean value of 15 10⁴ m³ per CG flash. Iberian air fluxes associated with cold air in upper parts of the atmosphere represent the third meteorological pattern found. This pattern is most common in spring and autumn but is not unusual in the rest of the seasons. In those cases mean rainfall yield in the area is about 150 10⁴ m³ per CG flash. In all electrical episodes K instability index is greater than 15 °C but in the most lightning producing events, this index reaches in the area values greater than 24 °C. PCA results pointed out that there exists a relationship between rain and CG counts expressed by the first principal component computed from standardized data. However, we must notice that no event is solely linked to this axis, since a seasonal influence which decreases lightning production when rain increases is always present. Results found are of great interest for short term forecasting of flashfloods in mountainous areas like the Spanish Basque Country region.     

Waveshapes of continuing currents and properties of M-components in natural positive cloud-to-ground lightning

This work analyses the waveshapes of continuing currents and parameters of M-components in positive cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes through high-speed GPS synchronized videos. The dataset is composed of only long continuing currents (with duration longer than 40 ms) and was selected from more than 800 flashes recorded in São José dos Campos (45.864°W, 23.215°S) and Uruguaiana (29.806°W, 57.005°S) in Southeast and South of Brazil, respectively, during 2003 to 2007 summers. The videos are compared with data obtained by the Brazilian Lightning Location System (BrasilDAT) in order to determine the polarity of each flash and select only positive cases. There are only two studies of waveshapes of continuing currents in the literature. One is based on direct current measurements of triggered lightning, in which four different types of waveshapes were observed; and the other is based on measurements of luminosity variations in high-speed videos of CG negative lightning, in which besides the four types above mentioned two additional types were observed. The present work is an extension of the latter, using the same method but now applied to obtain the waveshapes of positive CG lightning. As far as the authors know, this is the first report on M-components in positive continuing currents. We also have used the luminosity-versus-time graphs to observe their occurrence and measure some parameters (duration, elapsed time and time between two successive M-components), whose statistics are presented and compared in detail to the data for negative flashes. We have plotted a histogram of the M-components elapsed time over the total duration of the continuing current for positive flashes, which presented an exponential decay (correlation coefficient: 0.83), similar to what has been observed for negative flashes.