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Land-sea contrast in the lightning diurnal variation as observed by the WWLLN and LIS/OTD data

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Abstract

Data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) for the period 2005–2011 and data composite of the Lightning Imaging Sensor/Optical Transient Detector (LIS/OTD) for 1995–2010 are used to analyze the lightning activity and its diurnal variation over land and ocean of the globe. The Congo basin shows a peak mean annual flash density of 160.7 fl km−2 yr−1 according to the LIS/OTD. The annual mean land to ocean flash ratio is 9.6:1, which confirms the result from Christian et al. in 2003 based on only 5-yr OTD data. The lightning density detected by the WWLLN is in general one order of magnitude lower than that of the LIS/OTD. The diurnal cycle of the lightning activity over land shows a single peak, with the maximum activity occurring around 1400-1900 LT (Local Time) and a minimum in the morning from both datasets. The oceanic diurnal variation has two peaks: the early morning peak between 0100 and 0300 LT and the afternoon peak with a stronger intensity between 1100 and 1400 LT over the Pacific Ocean, as revealed from the WWLLN dataset; whereas the diurnal variation over ocean in the LIS/OTD dataset shows a large fluctuation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Middle Atmosphere and Global Environment Observation (LAGEO), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Lunxiang Pan  (潘伦湘), Dongxia Liu  (刘冬霞), Xiushu Qie  (郄秀书) & Dongfang Wang  (王东方)

  2. Key Laboratory of Semi-Arid Climate Change of Ministry of Education, and College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Runpeng Zhu  (朱润鹏)

Authors
  1. Lunxiang Pan  (潘伦湘)
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  2. Dongxia Liu  (刘冬霞)
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  3. Xiushu Qie  (郄秀书)
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  4. Dongfang Wang  (王东方)
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  5. Runpeng Zhu  (朱润鹏)
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Correspondence to Dongxia Liu  (刘冬霞).

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41005004 and 40930949).

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Pan, L., Liu, D., Qie, X. et al. Land-sea contrast in the lightning diurnal variation as observed by the WWLLN and LIS/OTD data. Acta Meteorol Sin 27, 591–600 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0408-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0408-0

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