Abstract
The statistical characteristics of Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning data, observed by the total lightning detection system (TLDS) of KMA during the recent seven years (2002-2008), have been analyzed. Lightning frequency shows a strong interannual, seasonal and diurnal variations without regard to the polarity. The 74% and 0.6% of the total lightning occurred during the summer and winter, respectively. And it has a bimodal diurnal variation with two peaks (dawn: 0500-0700 LST, mid-afternoon: 1500-1600 LST). The ratio of positive flashes to negative ones also has a strong seasonal variation with the maximum and minimum during winter (62.5%) and summer (7.3%), respectively. Unlike the lightning frequency, the lightning intensity of negative flashes shows a weak interannual, seasonal and diurnal variations. However, the lightning intensity of positive flashes exhibits an inverse seasonal variation to that of lightning frequency, with the minimum and maximum during summer and winter, respectively. The lightning density is greatly higher in the western inland areas and the West/South Sea than in the eastern part and the East Sea. In general, the lightning intensity is stronger in the ocean, especially in the East Sea than in the inland area, regardless of the polarity.
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