THUNDERSTORM INITIATION CLIMATOLOGY OVER THE AMAZON REGION BASED ON FORTRACC SYSTEM

Abstract:

The increasing availability of meteorological data worldwide (satellite, weather radar, etc.) has led to the development of many systems to track thunderstorms. Despite their primary application on nowcasting, they may also provide information on the onset of thunderstorms. The main tracking system based on satellite data in Brazil is the FORTRACC (Forecast and Track of Cloud Cluster), which was developed by Vila and Machado (2006) to detect and follow clusters of penetrative clouds using the difference of water vapor and infrared channels of GOES imagery. The resulting data comprise different information of the trajectory and evolution of convective systems, as well as the starting point of each thunderstorm, called spontaneous generation (N). Based on a collection of 12 years (2003-2014) of these data (N) over the Amazon region, the resulting climatology of thunderstorm onset location is presented, which is expected to be less subject to errors than the other variables given by the tracking system (despite the storm trajectory and stages are not completely recognized in many cases, the convective system will exist). The initial results indicate a singular behavior, with a reduced number of convective systems starting over the main rivers and lower areas (see attached Figure). To better understand the underlying conditions, storm onset data (N) will be will be separated in different time intervals in a further analysis and the observed spatial distribution will be compared with lightning climatoligies (based on LIS/WWLLN data), as well as on the elevation (from GEOTOPO 30 dataset). Besides the influence of terrain, which is widely described in several previous studies on the thunderstorm initiation, large water bodies and adjacent forest/land may influence on storm onset. At the Amazon region, synoptic effects are reduced, which may increases the influence of contrasting surface characteristics on the sensible/latent heat fluxes and on the local circulation; and thus, inhibiting/enhancing thunderstorm formation.