Energetic Intracloud Lightning in the RELAMPAGO Field Campaign

• Published in: Earth and space science (Hoboken, N.J.) Vol. 8; no. 11; pp. e2021EA001856 - n/a
• Main Authors: Antunes de Sá, A. L., Marshall, R., Deierling, W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.11.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Subjects: Altitude; Atmospheric Electricity; Atmospheric Processes; Classification; Compact Intra‐Cloud Discharges (CID); Cosmic rays; Data Assimilation; Datasets; Electric fields; energetic intracloud lightning; Energetic In‐Cloud Pulses (EIP); Instruments and Techniques; Lightning; lightning classification; Low‐Frequency; Polarity; Radiation; RELAMPAGO; Remote sensing; Storms; Tropical Convection; Argentina; Energetic In‐Cloud Pulses (EIP); lightning classification; Low‐Frequency; energetic intracloud lightning; Compact Intra‐Cloud Discharges (CID); RELAMPAGO
• ISSN: 2333-5084; 2333-5084
• DOI: 10.1029/2021EA001856

A particular strength of lightning remote sensing is the variety of lightning types observed, each with a unique occurrence context and characteristically different emission. Distinct energetic intracloud (EIC) lightning discharges—compact intracloud lightning discharges (CIDs) and energetic intracloud pulses (EIPs)—produce intense RF radiation, suggesting large currents inside the cloud, and they also have different production mechanisms and occurrence contexts. A Low‐Frequency (LF) lightning remote sensing instrument array was deployed during the RELAMPAGO field campaign in west central Argentina, designed to investigate convective storms that produce high‐impact weather. LF data from the campaign can provide a valuable data set for researching the lightning context of EICs in a variety of subtropical convective storms. This paper describes the production of an LF‐CID data set in RELAMPAGO and includes a preliminary analysis of CID prevalence. Geolocated lightning events and their corresponding observed waveforms from the RELAMPAGO LF data set are used in the classification of EICs. Height estimates based on skywave reflections are computed, where prefit residual data editing is used to improve robustness against outliers. Even if EIPs occurred within the network, given the low number of very high‐peak current events and receiver saturation, automatic classification of EIPs may not be feasible using this data. The classification of CIDs, on the other hand, is straightforward and their properties, for both positive and negative polarity, are investigated. A few RELAMPAGO case studies are also presented, where high variability of CID prevalence in ordinary storms and high‐altitude positive CIDs, possibly in overshooting tops, are observed. Key Points Classification and height estimation of energetic intracloud lightning are investigated using RELAMPAGO Low‐Frequency (LF) lightning waveforms A small number of high‐peak current events and saturation of LF receivers hinder the observation of Energetic In‐Cloud Pulses in RELAMPAGO A catalog of RELAMPAGO Compact Intracloud Discharges is produced to be used in future study of their occurrence in different storm types