A comparative analysis of lightning data from lightning networks and LIS sensor in the North and Southeast of Brazil

Abstract

Intracloud and cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning data in the North and Southeast regions of Brazil are compared based on observations from 01 October 1999 to 13 April 2000. The observations were made by ground networks and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on board the TRMM satellite. For the whole period of observation, a detailed comparative analysis indicates that the cloud‐to‐ground lightning activity in the North region is about 20% higher than that in the Southeast for a similar size area, while the percentage of intracloud flashes is almost the same in both regions (∼60–65%). On a 49‐day basis (to avoid the local time bias in the LIS data), the same analysis indicates that the lightning activity recorded by LIS is representative of the CG lightning activity detected by the lightning networks, either in the same time and space seen by the satellite sensor, or in the area of the study. It was also found that the percentage of positive CG flashes in the North region is correlated to the percentage of intracloud flashes.