A pan-Alpine climatology of lightning and convective initiation.

Autor(en)

Agostino Manzato, Stefano Serafin, Mario Marcello Miglietta, Daniel J. Kirshbaum, Wolfgang Schulz

Abstrakt

A new lightning-flash and convective initiation climatology is developed over the Alpine area, one of the hotspots for lightning activity in Europe. The climatology uses cloud-to-ground (CG) data from the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection (EUCLID) network, occurring from 2005 to 2019. The CG lightning data are gridded at a resolution of approximately 2 km and 10 min. A new and simple method of identifying convective initiation (CI) events applies a spatiotemporal mask to the CG data to determine CI timing and location. Although the method depends on a few empirical thresholds, sensitivity tests show the results to be robust. The maximum activity for both CG flashes and CI events is observed from mid-May to mid-September, with a peak at the end of July; the peak in the diurnal cycle occurs in the afternoon. CI is mainly concentrated over and around the Alps, particularly in northern and northeastern Italy. Since many thunderstorms follow the prevailing midlatitude westerly flow, a peak of CG flashes extends from the mountains into the plains and coastal areas of northeastern Italy and Slovenia. CG flashes and CI events over the sea/coast occur less frequently than in plains and mountains, have a weaker diurnal cycle, and have a seasonal maximum in autumn instead of summer.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik

Externe Organisation(en)

ARPA FVG–OSMER, Instituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima, McGill University, Austrian Lightning Detection and Information System

Journal

Monthly Weather Review

Band

150

Seiten

2213-2230

Anzahl der Seiten

18

ISSN

0027-0644

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-21-0149.1

Publikationsdatum

09-2022

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105204 Klimatologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Atmospheric Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/5048c4b3-dba1-401e-b7ae-5a135219dd34