TY - JOUR
T1 - Subseasonal and diurnal variability in lightning and storm activity over the Yangtze River Delta, China, during mei-yu season
AU - Yang, Ji
AU - Zhao, Kun
AU - Chen, Xingchao
AU - Huang, Anning
AU - Zheng, Yuanyuan
AU - Sun, Kangyuan
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments. This work was primarily supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant 2017YFC1501703), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 41475015, 41275031, 41805025, 41322032), and the Open Research Program of the State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather. Xingchao Chen is supported by the Office of Science of DOE Biological and Environmental Research as part of the Regional and Global Modeling and Analysis program. We acknowledge the Jiangsu Meteorological Bureau for collecting and archiving the radar data. The data supporting the analysis and conclusions of this paper, including the processed radar observations and the synoptic data, can be requested by contacting the office at [email protected].
Funding Information:
This work was primarily supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant 2017YFC1501703), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 41475015, 41275031, 41805025, 41322032), and the Open Research Program of the State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather. Xingchao Chen is supported by the Office of Science of DOE Biological and Environmental Research as part of the Regional and Global Modeling and Analysis program. We acknowledge the Jiangsu Meteorological Bureau for collecting and archiving the radar data. The data supporting the analysis and conclusions of this paper, including the processed radar observations and the synoptic data, can be requested by contacting the office at [email protected].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Meteorological Society.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Using 5 years of operational Doppler radar, cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning observations, and National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis data, this study examined the spatial and temporal characteristics of and correlations between summer storm and lightning activity over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), with a focus on subseasonal variability and diurnal cycles. The spatiotemporal features of storm top, duration, maximum reflectivity, size, and cell-based vertical integrated liquid water were investigated using the Storm Cell Identification and Tracking algorithm. Our results revealed that there was high storm activity over the YRD, with weak diurnal variations during the mei-yu period. Specifically, storms were strongly associated with mei-yu fronts and exhibited a moderate size, duration, and intensity. On average, afternoon storms exhibited stronger reflectivity and higher storm tops than morning storms, as evidenced by the afternoon peak in CG lightning. The storm intensity strengthened in the post-mei-yu period, due to an increase in atmospheric instability; this was accompanied by a higher frequency of CG lighting. The diurnal cycles of storm frequency and CG lightning in the post-mei-yu period followed a unimodal pattern with an afternoon peak. This is attributable to increased thermodynamic instability in the afternoon, as little diurnal variation was observed for wind shear and moisture. An inverse correlation between lightning occurrence and mean peak current (MPC) for negative CG lightning was evident during the pre-mei-yu and mei-yu periods. The diurnal variation in MPC for negative CG lightning agreed well with that for storm intensity.
AB - Using 5 years of operational Doppler radar, cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning observations, and National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis data, this study examined the spatial and temporal characteristics of and correlations between summer storm and lightning activity over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), with a focus on subseasonal variability and diurnal cycles. The spatiotemporal features of storm top, duration, maximum reflectivity, size, and cell-based vertical integrated liquid water were investigated using the Storm Cell Identification and Tracking algorithm. Our results revealed that there was high storm activity over the YRD, with weak diurnal variations during the mei-yu period. Specifically, storms were strongly associated with mei-yu fronts and exhibited a moderate size, duration, and intensity. On average, afternoon storms exhibited stronger reflectivity and higher storm tops than morning storms, as evidenced by the afternoon peak in CG lightning. The storm intensity strengthened in the post-mei-yu period, due to an increase in atmospheric instability; this was accompanied by a higher frequency of CG lighting. The diurnal cycles of storm frequency and CG lightning in the post-mei-yu period followed a unimodal pattern with an afternoon peak. This is attributable to increased thermodynamic instability in the afternoon, as little diurnal variation was observed for wind shear and moisture. An inverse correlation between lightning occurrence and mean peak current (MPC) for negative CG lightning was evident during the pre-mei-yu and mei-yu periods. The diurnal variation in MPC for negative CG lightning agreed well with that for storm intensity.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097641881&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85097641881&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0453.1
DO - 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0453.1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097641881
SN - 0894-8755
VL - 33
SP - 5013
EP - 5033
JO - Journal of Climate
JF - Journal of Climate
IS - 12
ER -