Some Spatial and Temporal Relationships between Lightning and Storm Structure and Evolution,

Abstract

We have used a number of systems to study relationships between lightning and other storm parameters. Instrumentation includes a system for locating cloud-to-ground lightning strike points, an acoustic lightning mapper and a VHF (30-80 MHz) lightning mapper to study the structure and location of lightning, and S-band radar to provide other storm data. Several characteristics of the reconstructed lightning have been relatively constant: (1) lightning structure is usually predominately horizontal; (2) lightning tends to occur preferrentially in certain altitude ranges that are only a few kilometers thick and above the 0deg C isotherm; (3) it tends to occur near, but not necessarily inside, cores of high reflectivity (approx. > or = 45 dBZ), and it often connects with regions of relatively weak reflectivity downstream from stronger reflectivity and updraft cores. Other relationships are also discussed. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADP002165

Entities

People

  • A. A. Few
  • D. R. Macgorman
  • W. L. Taylor

Organizations

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Atmospheric Electricity
  • Electricity
  • Instrumentation
  • Isotherms
  • Lightning
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Reflectivity
  • Static Electricity

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.