Relationship Between Lightning Activities and Surface Precipitation in Thunderstorm Weather in Beijing

Zheng Dong; Zhang Yijun; Meng Qing; Lti Weitao

Vol.21, NO.3, 2010

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Journal of Applied Meteorological Science > 2010 > 21(3): 287-297

Zheng Dong, Zhang Yijun, Meng Qing, et al. Relationship between lightning activities and surface precipitation in thunderstorm weather in Beijing. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2010, 21(3): 287-297.

Citation:

Zheng Dong, Zhang Yijun, Meng Qing, et al. Relationship between lightning activities and surface precipitation in thunderstorm weather in Beijing. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2010, 21(3): 287-297.

Zheng Dong, Zhang Yijun, Meng Qing, et al. Relationship between lightning activities and surface precipitation in thunderstorm weather in Beijing. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2010, 21(3): 287-297.

Citation:

Zheng Dong, Zhang Yijun, Meng Qing, et al. Relationship between lightning activities and surface precipitation in thunderstorm weather in Beijing. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2010, 21(3): 287-297.

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Relationship Between Lightning Activities and Surface Precipitation in Thunderstorm Weather in Beijing

1.
Laboratory of Lightning Physics and Protection Engineering，Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences，Beijing 100081
2.
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather，Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences，Beijing 100081

Received Date: 2009-08-14
Rev Recd Date: 2010-02-05
Publish Date: 2010-06-30

Abstract

Abstract

Study on the relationship between lightning activity and precipitation is valuable for estimating the rainfall based on lightning detection in the areas where other observation methods such as radar, precipitation gauge and so on are inapplicable. Therefore, 18 thunderstorm processes occurred in Beijing area are investigated based on radar observation and correlative radar algorithms, then the convective regions and stratiform regions are distinguished and the precipitation intensity of the thunderstorms is calculated. The total lightning data (intracloud (IC) lightning and cloud to ground (CG) lightning) of the thunderstorms detected by SAFIR3000 3 D total lightning location system is used in the analysis to discuss the relationship between the lightning activities and the amounts of precipitation in convective regions and the areas of convective regions. It is found that the precipitation per flash (PRF) ranges from 0.86×10⁷ kg/fl to 6.57×10⁷ kg/fl with the average value of 2.65×10⁷ kg/fl. Through comparing the standard deviation of the PRF calculated based on total lightning (PRF_L) and that calculated based on CG lightning (PRFCG), it shows that PRF_L is more stable than PRFCG in different thunderstorms. It demonstrates that for the time series of the peaks of lightning activities and the peaks of the amounts of precipitation in convective regions and the areas of convective regions, there are three styles of situation, i.e., ahead, behindhand and synchronous, which shows the complex relationship between them. The significant linear correlations between lightning activities and the amounts of precipitation in convective regions are found in all thunderstorms. The statistics including all samples shows that the coefficient is 0.826 and the fitting equation is M_CR=1.574×10⁷F_TL+2.956×10⁸. FTL is the frequency of the total lightning in 6 min and MCR is the amount of precipitation in convective regions in 6 min with the unit of kg/6 min. According to the situation of the time series of the peaks of lightning activities and precipitation, every thunderstorm process is divided into three stages: Rising stage, intermediate stage and falling stage. The correlation between lightning activity and the precipitation is found to be the most significant during the rising stage, followed in turn by falling stage and intermediate stage, and the corresponding coefficients are 0.859, 0.853 and 0.736, respectively. The relationships between the lightning activities and the areas of convective regions are found to be outstanding in 16 thunderstorms. When all the thunderstorms are considered, the coefficient reaches 0.846 and the fitting equation is A_CR=4.267F_TL+130.283.A_CR is the area of convective region with the unit of km² and FTL is the frequency of the total lightning in 6 min. According to the time series of the peaks of the lightning frequencies and the areas of convective regions, the thunderstorm processes are divided into three stages in the same way. It shows that all the linear correlations for three stages are outstanding, especially for rising stage. The coefficients for rising stage, intermediate stage and falling stage are 0.862, 0.834 and 0.837, respectively. Through the analysis, it is found that the relationships between the total lightning activity and the precipitation in convective region and the area of convective region are always better than those between the CG lightning activity and the precipitation and the area, indicating that the application of the total lightning data has improved the quality and reliability of the results.
- lightning activities;
- convective region;
- precipitation

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References(47)

Figures and Tables

图 1 站点分布 (a) 及北京地区SAFIR3000三维闪电定位系统定位精度分布 (Vaisala公司提供)(b)

Fig. 1 Distribution of the observation stations (a) and spatial distribution of the location accuracy of SAFJR3000 (provided by Vaisala Company) (b)

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图 2 所有雷暴过程综合的总闪频次和对流区降水量时间序列线性相关

Fig. 2 Linear correlation of time series between total lightning frequency and rainfall mass in convective regions with all thunderstorm processes considered

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图 3 雷暴发展阶段划分示意图 (实线和虚线可相互表示闪电频次和对流活动区降水量)

Fig. 3 Sketch map about the division of different development stage of thunderstorms (the solid line and dotted line can express the lightning frequency or the rainfall mass in convective regions mutually)

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图 4 不同阶段闪电频次与对流区降水量的线性关系

Fig. 4 Linear correlation in different development stages of thunderstorm processes between the total lightning frequency and the rainfall mass in the convective regions

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图 5 所有雷暴过程综合的闪电频次与对流区面积时间序列的线性关系

Fig. 5 Linear correlation of time series between the total lightning frequency and the area of the convective regions with all thunderstorm processes considered

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图 6 不同阶段总闪频次与对流区面积的线性关系

Fig. 6 Linear correlation in different development stages of thunderstorm processes between the total lightning frequency and the area of the convective regions

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表 1 2006年雷暴过程说明

Table 1 Analyzed thunderstorms processes in 2006

表 2 RPF值的统计 (单位:10⁷kg/fl)

Table 2 Statistics of RPF value (unit:10⁷kg/fl)

表 3 相关研究中单个总闪或地闪对应的降水分析

Table 3 Rainfall relevant to one lightning discharge or clout-to-ground lightning discharge in other studies

表 4 雷暴不同阶段总闪与对流区降水量的线性关系分析

Table 4 Linear correlation of different development stages of thunderstorm processes between the total lightning frequency and the rainfall mass in the convective regions

表 5 雷暴不同阶段总闪与对流活动区面积的线性关系分析

Table 5 Linear correlation of different development stages of thunderstorm processes between the total lightning frequency and the area of the convective regions

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