AE31B-0433
Preliminary Results form the Japanese Total Lightning Network
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Yasuhide Hobara1, Hayato Ishii1, Yuri Kumagai1, Charlie Liu2, Stan Heckman3, Colin Gregory Price4 and Earle R Williams5, (1)University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan, (2)Earth Networks, Germantown, MD, United States, (3)Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States, (4)Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, (5)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
Abstract:
We report on the initial observational results from the first Japanese Total Lightning Detection Network (JTLN) in relation to severe weather phenomena. The University of Electro-Communications (UEC) has deployed the Earth Networks (EN) Total Lightning System over Japan to carry out research on the relationship between thunderstorm activity and severe weather phenomena since 2013. In this paper we first demonstrate the current status of our new network followed by the initial scientific results. The lightning jump algorithm was applied to our total lightning data to study the relationship between total lighting activity and hazardous weather events such as gust fronts and tornadoes over land reported by the JMA (Japanese Meteorological Agency) in 2014. As a result, a clear increase in total lighting flash rate as well as lightning jumps are observed prior to most hazardous weather events (~20 min) indicating potential usefulness for early warning in Japan. Furthermore we are going to demonstrate the relationship of total lightning activities with meteorological radar data focusing particularly on Japanese Tornadic storms.
