Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells
<p>This paper presents an analysis of the lightning production of convective cells. The cells were detected by the MeteoSwiss Thunderstorms Radar Tracking (TRT) algorithm in the course of a lightning measurement campaign that took place in the summer of 2017 in the area surrounding the Säntis...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2019-10-01
|
| Series: | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |
| Online Access: | https://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/12/5573/2019/amt-12-5573-2019.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818285553088462848 |
|---|---|
| author | J. Figueras i Ventura N. Pineda N. Pineda N. Besic J. Grazioli A. Hering O. A. van der Velde D. Romero A. Sunjerga A. Mostajabi M. Azadifar M. Rubinstein J. Montanyà U. Germann F. Rachidi |
| author_facet | J. Figueras i Ventura N. Pineda N. Pineda N. Besic J. Grazioli A. Hering O. A. van der Velde D. Romero A. Sunjerga A. Mostajabi M. Azadifar M. Rubinstein J. Montanyà U. Germann F. Rachidi |
| author_sort | J. Figueras i Ventura |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>This paper presents an analysis of the lightning production of convective cells. The cells were detected by the MeteoSwiss Thunderstorms Radar Tracking (TRT) algorithm in the course of a lightning measurement campaign that took place in the summer of 2017 in the area surrounding the Säntis mountain, in the northeastern part of Switzerland. For this campaign, and for the first time in the Alps, a lightning mapping array (LMA) was deployed. In the first part of the paper, we examine the relationship between the intra-cloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) activity and the cell severity, as derived by the TRT algorithm, of a large dataset of cells gathered during the campaign. We also propose and analyse the performance of a new metric to quantify lightning intensity, the rimed-particle column (RPC) height and base altitude. In the second part, we focus on two of the most severe cells detected during the campaign that produced significantly different outcomes in terms of lightning activity. The paper shows that the newly proposed metric (RPC) seems to be a very promising predictor of lightning activity, particularly for IC flashes. Future lightning nowcasting algorithms should be probabilistic in nature and incorporate the polarimetric properties of the convective cells as well as the lightning climatology.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:10:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98b0fa5ce42f42b2a5c3a2131cb0a1bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1867-1381 1867-8548 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:10:31Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |
| spelling | doaj.art-98b0fa5ce42f42b2a5c3a2131cb0a1bf2022-12-22T00:04:29ZengCopernicus PublicationsAtmospheric Measurement Techniques1867-13811867-85482019-10-01125573559110.5194/amt-12-5573-2019Analysis of the lightning production of convective cellsJ. Figueras i Ventura0N. Pineda1N. Pineda2N. Besic3J. Grazioli4A. Hering5O. A. van der Velde6D. Romero7A. Sunjerga8A. Mostajabi9M. Azadifar10M. Rubinstein11J. Montanyà12U. Germann13F. Rachidi14MeteoSwiss, Locarno, SwitzerlandMeteorological Service of Catalonia, Barcelona, SpainUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC, Terrassa, SpainMeteoSwiss, Locarno, SwitzerlandMeteoSwiss, Locarno, SwitzerlandMeteoSwiss, Locarno, SwitzerlandUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC, Terrassa, SpainUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC, Terrassa, SpainÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, Lausanne, SwitzerlandÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, Lausanne, SwitzerlandHaute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occidentale HES-SO, Yverdon-les-Bains, SwitzerlandHaute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occidentale HES-SO, Yverdon-les-Bains, SwitzerlandUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC, Terrassa, SpainMeteoSwiss, Locarno, SwitzerlandÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland<p>This paper presents an analysis of the lightning production of convective cells. The cells were detected by the MeteoSwiss Thunderstorms Radar Tracking (TRT) algorithm in the course of a lightning measurement campaign that took place in the summer of 2017 in the area surrounding the Säntis mountain, in the northeastern part of Switzerland. For this campaign, and for the first time in the Alps, a lightning mapping array (LMA) was deployed. In the first part of the paper, we examine the relationship between the intra-cloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) activity and the cell severity, as derived by the TRT algorithm, of a large dataset of cells gathered during the campaign. We also propose and analyse the performance of a new metric to quantify lightning intensity, the rimed-particle column (RPC) height and base altitude. In the second part, we focus on two of the most severe cells detected during the campaign that produced significantly different outcomes in terms of lightning activity. The paper shows that the newly proposed metric (RPC) seems to be a very promising predictor of lightning activity, particularly for IC flashes. Future lightning nowcasting algorithms should be probabilistic in nature and incorporate the polarimetric properties of the convective cells as well as the lightning climatology.</p>https://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/12/5573/2019/amt-12-5573-2019.pdf |
| spellingShingle | J. Figueras i Ventura N. Pineda N. Pineda N. Besic J. Grazioli A. Hering O. A. van der Velde D. Romero A. Sunjerga A. Mostajabi M. Azadifar M. Rubinstein J. Montanyà U. Germann F. Rachidi Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |
| title | Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells |
| title_full | Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells |
| title_short | Analysis of the lightning production of convective cells |
| title_sort | analysis of the lightning production of convective cells |
| url | https://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/12/5573/2019/amt-12-5573-2019.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jfiguerasiventura analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT npineda analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT npineda analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT nbesic analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT jgrazioli analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT ahering analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT oavandervelde analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT dromero analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT asunjerga analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT amostajabi analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT mazadifar analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT mrubinstein analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT jmontanya analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT ugermann analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells AT frachidi analysisofthelightningproductionofconvectivecells |