Ten-year study of cloud-to-ground lightning activity in the Iberian Peninsula |
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| Institution: | 1. Departamento de Cs. Físicas y Ambientales, Fac. Cs. Exactas, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Pinto 399 (7000), Tandil, Argentina;2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina;3. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro, de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIFICEN), Argentina;4. Instituto de Física de Materiales Tandil (IFIMAT), Argentina;1. Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, Lofos Koufou, 15236 Penteli, Athens, Greece;2. Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Department of Physics, University of Patras, 26500, Greece;1. Doshisha University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Kyoto 610-0394, Japan;2. TEPCO Research Institute, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-8510, Japan;3. University of Florida, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gainesville FL 32611, USA |
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| Abstract: | The characteristics (annual and diurnal cycle, polarity, multiplicity and first stroke peak current) of ～4.3×106 cloud-to-ground flashes recorded in the Iberian Peninsula during the first decade of measurements of the lightning detection network installed in Spain are analyzed. The mean monthly variation shows maximum lightning activity between May and September, while minimum values are observed in January and February. The mean diurnal cycle shows maximum values at 1700 LT and minimum values at around 1000 LT. The average maximum flash density (not corrected for detection efficiency) is 2.1 flashes km?2 year?1. Maximum lightning activity is associated with mountainous areas. The effect of the Mediterranean Sea is also seen. The percentage of positive flashes is 9%, although this changes over the year from 6.5% in June to 22.6% in January. The average multiplicity is found to be 2.0 for the negative flashes and 1.1 for the positive flashes, and the percentages of single-stroke flashes are 53.6% and 89%, respectively. The monthly distribution of multiplicity for negative flashes peaks in the summer and minimum values are found in the winter. The multiplicity of the positive flashes does not seem to be function of the month. The median (mean) first stroke peak currents are found to be 23.5 kA (27.3 kA) for the negative flashes and 35.3 kA (47.1 kA) for the positive flashes. For both polarities, the peak current is higher in the summer than in the winter. The percentage of positive flashes and the mean peak currents for negative flashes are higher over the sea areas than over land. |
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