Thunderstorm days over Argentina: Integration between human observations of thunder and the world wide lightning location network lightning data. (31st July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bertone, Fiorela; Nicora, Gabriela; Vidal, Luciano
• Is Part Of: International journal of climatology. Volume 42:Number 16(2022)
• Page Start: 9072
• Page End: 9087
• Publication Date: 2022-07-31
• Subjects: Argentina -- lightning -- thunder day -- thunderstorm; Climatology -- Periodicals; Climat -- Périodiques; Climatologie -- Périodiques; 551.605
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.7800
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0899-8418

Abstract

Abstract: Storms are one of nature's most dangerous phenomena; therefore, knowing their spatial distribution and evolution over time is of great interest for the protection of society, as well as for climate change adaptation strategies. The measurement of Thunderstorm days (Td) was one of the first tools used to monitor storms. The advent of automatic detection networks on the surface has allowed us to advance in the understanding and characterization of the electrical activity in the atmosphere, locating in real‐time electrical discharges and providing information over previously unrecorded regions. This work focuses on the integration of human observations at conventional meteorological stations and the data provided by the WWLLN surface discharge detection network in Argentina. The calibration methodology applied determined a mean human thunderstorm detection radius of 21 km which allowed the elaboration of isokeraunic maps for the period 2008–2017 for the region of interest. The spatial distribution of storms yielded the highest values of Td in the Argentine Northwest region with values above 100 Td·year −1 followed by a relative maximum in the Argentine Northeast with 80 Td·year −1 and the Sierras de Córdoba with 50 Td·year −1 . Abstract : The objective of this study is to analyse the relationship between human observations of thunderstorms and lightning detection data from the WWLLN network in Argentina for the period 2008–2017. The isokeraunic maps were made, and the Td values were evaluated at SMN stations. In addition, the isokeraunic maps obtained will allow us to advance in the knowledge of the climate in Argentina and thus respond to the requirements of Task‐Team on Lightning Observations for Climate Applications in terms of complementing human observations with automatic detection systems.