Lightning,
Thunderstorms
One of the most fabulous examples of
nature's power is the lightning
discharge. There are different types of lightning, although the most
common
lightning is that within the thunderstorm cloud, between different
parts
of the same cloud (intracloud lightning). This makes up approximately
70%
of all lightning discharges. The majority of the remaining 30% is due
to
lightning between clouds and the ground (not surprisingly called
cloud-to-ground
lightning). There are other types of lightning such as cloud-to-cloud
lightning,
cloud-to-air lightning, ball lightning, heat lightning, and others. It
is estimated that there are between 50-100 lightning flashes every
second
somewhere around the globe.
Satellite
observations of lightning
show that lightning around the globe is concentrated primarily over the
continental regions, which make up only 30% of the surface area of the
earth. Why is this? It appears that the updraft velocities in
thunderstorms
are important in the microphysical processes that eventually lead to
the
electrification of clouds and finally the lightning discharge.
Observations
show that the updraft velocities in oceanic thunderstorms are much
weaker
than the updraft velocities in the continental thunderstorms. Part of
my
research deals with these differences between oceanic and continental
thunderstorms.
Severe thunderstorms often have intense
lightning activity. These
storms can often produce large hail, strong winds, flash floods and sometimes tornados.
Lightning is also known to be closely related to the amount of precipitation
produced by these storms. It may be possible to therefore use lightning
information, which can be observed either via satellite or by ground
detection
networks, to estimate the amount of rainfall that will fall in remote
regions
where flooding is a threat (e.g. the Negev desert in Israel). Since
rivers
crest a few hours after the rain has fallen, realtime lightning data
may
allow us to improve flash flood warnings. During 2006-2010 I led
a large European project called FLASH
to study the link between lightning and flash floods.
Recently we have also studied lightning in hurricanes (see figure below),
and found that lightning activity (red) peaks about one day before the
peak wind intensities of the hurricane (black).
Besides observations, I am also
interested in the numerical simulations
of global lightning distributions in mathematical computer models. We
have recently used the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to
simulate lightning activity in thunderstorms, flash floods, and
hurricanes.
References:
<> Price, C.,
and D. Rind, 1992: A simple lightning
parameterization for calculating global lightning distributions, J.
Geophy.
Res., 97, 9919-33.
Price, C.,
and D. Rind, 1993: What determines
the cloud-to-ground lightning fraction in thunderstorms? Geophys. Res.
Lett., 20, 463-466.
Price, C.,
and D. Rind, 1994: Modeling global
lightning distributions in a General Circulation Model, Mon. Wea. Rev.,
122,1930-1939.
Price, C.
and
B. Murphy, 2002: Lightning
activity during the 1999 Superior Derecho, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(23),
57.1-57.4.
Burrows,
W.R., C.
Price,
and L. J. Wilson, 2005: Warm season lightning probability prediction
for Canada and the northern United States. Wea.
and Forecasting,
20(6), 971-988.
Price, C., 2006: Global lightning
activity, in Sprites,
Elves and Intense lightning Discharges, M.
Fullegrug et al. (eds.), Springer,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 85-99.
Price, C.,
and B. Federmesser, 2006: Lightning-rainfall relationships in
Mediterranean winter thunderstorms, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L07813,
doi:10.1029/2005GL024794.
Yair, Y., R. Aviv, G. Ravid, R. Yaniv, B. Ziv and C. Price, 2006: Evidence
for synchronicity of lightning activity in networks of spatially remote
thunderstorms, J.
Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys.,
68, 1401-1415.
Price, C.,
and M. Asfur, 2006: Long term trends in lightning activity over
Africa, Earth
Planets Space, 58, 1-5.
Price, C.,
Y. Yair and M. Asfur, 2007: East African lightning as a precursor of
Atlantic hurricane activity, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 34,
L09805, doi:1029/2006GL028884.
Price, C.,
2008: Lightning sensors for observing, tracking and nowcasting
severe weather, Sensors, 8, 157-170.
Dowden, R L, R H Holzworth, C J Rodger, J Lichtenberger, N R Thomson, A
R Jacobson, E Lay, J B Brundell, T J Lyons, S O'Keefe, Z Kawasaki, C
Price,
V Prior, P Ortéga, J Weinman, Y Mikhailov, O Veliz, X Qie, G
Burns, A Collier, O Pinto Jr, R Diaz, C Adamo, E R Williams, S Kumar, G
B Raga, J M Rosado, E E. Avila, M A Clilverd, T Ulich, P Gorham, T J G
Shanahan, T Osipowicz, G Cook, Y Zhao, 2008: World-Wide Lightning
Location Using VLF Propagation in the Earth-Ionosphere Waveguide, IEEE
Antennas and Propagation Magazine, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2008.4674710,
p 40-60.
Price, C.,
2009: Thunderstorms, Lightning and Climate Change, in Lightning
: Principles, Instruments and Applications, ed.
H.D. Betz, U. Schumann and P. Laroche, Springer Publications, 521-536.
Dotzek, N., and C.
Price,
2009: Lightning characteristics of extreme weather events, in Lightning
: Principles, Instruments and Applications, ed.
H.D. Betz, U. Schumann and P. Laroche, Springer Publications, 487-508.
Yair, Y., B. Lynn, C.
Price,
V. Kotroni, K. Lagouvardos, E. Morin, A. Mugnai and M. C. Llasat, 2009:
Predicting lightning density in Mediterranean storms based on the WRF
model dynamic and microphysical fields, J.
Geophysi. Res.,
VOL. 115, D04205, doi:10.1029/2008JD010868.
Price, C.,
M. Asfur
and Y. Yair, 2009: Maximum hurricane intensity preceded by
increase in lightning frequency , Nature
Geoscience,
doi:10.1038/NGEO477, Vol. 2, 329-332.
Altaratz, O., I. Koren, Y. Yair and C.
Price,
2010: Lightning response to smoke from Amazonian fires, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 37,
L07801, doi:10.1029/2010GL042679.
Rozalis, S., E. Morin, Y. Yair and C.
Price, 2010: Flash
flood prediction using an un-calibrated hydrological model and radar rainfall data in a Mediterranean
watershedunder changing hydrological conditions, J. of Hydrology¸ 394, 245-255.
Llasat, M.C., M. Llasat-Botija, M.A. Prat, F. Porcú, C.
Price, A.
Mugnai, K. Lagouvardos, V. Kotroni, D. Katsanos, S. Michaelides, Y. Yair, K.
Savvidou, and K. Nicolaides, 2010: High-impact floods and flash floods in Mediterranean
countries: the FLASH preliminary database, Adv. Geosci.,
23, 47-55.
Kohen, M., E. Galanti, C. Price, K. Lagouvardos and V. Kotroni, 2011: Now-Casting Thunderstorms in the
Mediterranean Region using Lightning Data, Atmos. Res.,100,
489-502.
Price, C.,
Y. Yair, A. Mugnai, K. Lagouvardos, M. C. Llasat, S. Michaelides, U.
Dayan, S. Dietrich, E. Galanti, L. Garrote, N. Harats, D. Katsanos, M.
Kohn, V. Kotroni, M. Llasat-Botija, B. Lynn, L.
Mediero, E. Morin , K. Nicolaides, S. Rozalis, K. Savvidou, B.
Ziv, 2011: The FLASH Project: Using lightning data to better
understand and predict flash floods, Environ.
Sci. & Policy,
14, 898-911.
Price, C.,
Y. Yair, A. Mugnai, K. Lagouvardos, M. C. Llasat, S. Michaelides, U.
Dayan, S. Dietrich, F. Di Paola, E. Galanti, L. Garrote, N. Harats, D.
Katsanos, M. Kohn, V. Kotroni, M. Llasat-Botija, B. Lynn, L. Mediero,
E. Morin , K. Nicolaides, S. Rozalis, K. Savvidou, B. Ziv, 2011:
Using lightning data to better understand and predict flash floods in
the Mediterranean, Surveys
in Geophysics, 32(6), 733-751.
Lynn, B., Y. Yair, C.
Price,
G. Kelman and A. Clark, 2012: Predicting cloud-to-ground and intracloud
lightning in weather forecast models, Weather
and Forecasting,
submitted.
Price, C.,
B. Lynn, Y.Yair, N. Reicher and A. Khain, 2012: Modeling
lightning activity in hurricanes, Atmos.
Res., submitted.
<>
Related websites:
Lightning and thunderstorm
information
Close encouters with a tornado
