Abstract
Birthday UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBO Birthday 11.6568 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Activity of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes observed during the monsoon thunderstorms over Sri Lanka with a lightning locating system consisting of two direction finders (DF) is presented. The Northeast monsoon produced over 884 cloud-to-ground flashes with a peak lightning rate of 96 flashes per hour whereas Southwest monsoon produced 3,294 flashes with a peak rate of 104 flashes per hour. A relative flash density maximum of 198 flashes per 28×28 km 2 was observed over Ratnapura area (6.68N, 80.40E). The percentage of positive flashes and average peak lightning current values for negative flashes are found to be 6.4% and 36 kA respectively for the Northeast monsoon period and 1.7% and 40 kA respectively for the Southwest monsoon period for the flashes that struck within 10-250 km range. No significant difference in average peak lightning current values were observed for the negative and positive flashes in both monsoons. doi:10.4038/sljp.v2i0.177 Sri Lankan Journal of Physics, Vol.2 (2001) 13-19
Highlights
A lightning locating system with two direction finders (DF) has been implemented covering the Sri Lanka and the surrounding area in the Indian Ocean
The performance of the two DF station network in locating the lightning strikes and the results of the cloud-to-ground activities observed for monsoon and inter-monsoon thunderstorms over Sri Lanka during the year 1999 are presented in this paper
The results presented in this paper discuss the first ever ground flash activities recorded over Sri Lanka and in the surrounding area in the Indian Ocean
Summary
A lightning locating system with two direction finders (DF) has been implemented covering the Sri Lanka and the surrounding area in the Indian Ocean. Weerasekera et al./Sri Lankan Journal of Physics, Vol 2 (2001) 21- 30 comprehensive study on statistics related to lightning activity, a topic that has not yet been documented for this region. The performance of the two DF station network in locating the lightning strikes and the results of the cloud-to-ground activities observed for monsoon and inter-monsoon thunderstorms over Sri Lanka during the year 1999 are presented in this paper. The DF systems used in this study were manufactured by the Lightning Location and Protection (LLP) Inc., USA. The technical and the operating details of LLP lightning locating systems are given elsewhere[1,2,3,4] and not explained in this paper. The details related to the analysis presented in this paper are given here
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
