Exploring Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Earth Highpoint Attachment Geography by Peak Current

Earth Interactions

Brandon J.Vogt¹ 

关键词: Cloud-to-ground lightning;    Lightning attachment theory;    Atmospheric hazards;    Geographic information systems;    Remote sensing;   

DOI  :  10.1175/2010EI357.1

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

来源: American Geophysical Union

【 摘 要 】

Abstract This study applied remotely sensed cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning strike location data, a digital elevation model (DEM), and a geographic information system (GIS) to characterize negative polarity peak current CG lightning Earth attachment behavior. It explored the propensity for (i) flashes to favor topographic highpoint attachment and (ii) striking distance (a near-Earth attachment force) to increase with peak current. On a 16 000 km2 10-m DEM covering a section of southeast and south-central Colorado, a GIS extraction method identified approximately 5000 hilltop and outcrop highpoints containing at least 15 m of vertical gain in a 300-m radius neighborhood with a minimum horizontal separation of 600 m. Flashes with peak currents ranging from −20 to −119 kiloamps (kA), collected between February 2005 and May 2009, were subdivided into 10 kA classes and mapped on this modified DEM. Buffers of 100-, 200-, and 300-m radii created around each highpoint were used to assess the hypothesis that striki...

【 授权许可】

Unknown