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Thunderstorm activity and the structure of tropical cyclones

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Abstract

Synoptic and mesoscale cyclonic systems over the ocean and seas are often accompanied by thunderstorm activity, the intensity and spatial distribution of which is modulated by the dynamic structure of these systems. Lightning discharges are sources of electromagnetic radiation in the range of very low frequencies (VLF) and are detected by VLF location finders. Using the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), relations between characteristics of fields of detected lightning discharges in the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean and those of fields of meteorological elements of weather formations estimated by data of remote sensing of the Earth by satellites are studied by an example of tropical cyclones. We illustrate a technique permitting one to connect thunderstorm activity parameters (frequency and intensity, as well as spatial distribution of lightning discharges) with the structure of weather systems over oceans and seas and with the intensity and forms of mesoscale formations distinguished in these systems by fields of the near-water wind vortex (the fields are obtained using a scatterometer) and by satellite images in the visible and infrared ranges. The relations between the frequency and density of lightning discharges in the range of influence of a tropical cyclone (TC) and spatial distribution of the near-water wind vortex are demonstrated by an example of individual TCs of 2005–2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. V.I. Il’ichev Pacific Institute of Oceanology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Baltiiskaya 43, Vladivostok, 690041, Russia

    M. S. Permyakov & E. Yu. Potalova

  2. Far Eastern Federal University, ul. Sukhanova 8, Vladivostok, 690091, Russia

    M. S. Permyakov & E. Yu. Potalova

  3. Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Radio Wave Propagation, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Mirnaya 7, Paratunka, Kamchatka krai, 684034, Russia

    B. M. Shevtsov & N. V. Cherneva

  4. World Wide Lightning Location Network, University of Washington, ESS Box 351310, Johnson Hall Room 70, Seattle, WA, 98195-1310, USA

    R. H. Holzworth

Authors
  1. M. S. Permyakov
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  2. E. Yu. Potalova
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  3. B. M. Shevtsov
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  4. N. V. Cherneva
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  5. R. H. Holzworth
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. S. Permyakov.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © M.S. Permyakov, E.Yu. Potalova, B.M. Shevtsov, N.V. Cherneva, R.H. Holzworth, 2015, published in Optika Atmosfery i Okeana.

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Permyakov, M.S., Potalova, E.Y., Shevtsov, B.M. et al. Thunderstorm activity and the structure of tropical cyclones. Atmos Ocean Opt 28, 585–590 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1024856015060123

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1024856015060123

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