On the Variations of Electricity, Lightning and Storm Properties

Abstract:

Electrified clouds –thunderstorms if lightning is detected, and electrified shower clouds otherwise – produce various currents that contribute to the Global Electric Circuit (GEC). This study aims to use observations of storm properties and lightning characteristics, as well as passive microwave estimates of above-cloud electric fields to compare possible current contributions from a wide variety of storms including isolated thunderstorms, Mesoscale Convective Systems, and otherwise similar storms that occur over land or over the ocean. Variations in Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) optical flash properties are also considered in the context of how they relate to the properties of the parent storm and why they differ substantially between land and ocean.

This study relies on observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite that include radar profiles from the Precipitation Radar (PR), passive microwave observations from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI), infrared imagery from the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS), and optical lightning observations from LIS. Observations and derived parameters such as rain rates and electric field estimates are integrated into two databases: a Precipitation Feature (PF) database that summarizes the properties of storms defined by near surface rainfall, and an Illuminated Cloud Feature (ICF) database that summarizes the properties of the storm region illuminated by LIS lightning flashes. The ICF database is built to examine factors that are related to how optical energy can be distributed across the flash footprint in different types of clouds and different viewing conditions that will have consequences for the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) onboard the upcoming GOES-R satellite.