Assessment of the lightning discharge energy depending on the height of the territory above sea level for Western Siberia

Abstract

The work presents the data analysis of the energy of lightning discharges recorded by WWLLN on the territory of Western Siberia. A comparison of the discharge energy distributions in four altitude zones has been performed. Altitude zones are divided into the following conditional categories: lowlands (up to 300 m above sea level), low mountains (from 300 to 1000 m above sea level), middle mountains (from 1000 to 2000 m above sea level) and high mountains (more than 2000 m above sea level). Territories with an altitude of less than 2000m above sea level are characterized by the presence of thunderstorm foci with an increased density of discharges. At altitudes over 2000m above sea level, the discharge density is minimal. The energy of 90% of the discharges for lowlands and low mountains does not exceed 10 kJ. A greater number of discharges with energies above 10 kJ are noted in the middle and high mountains. The greatest increase in the energy of lightning discharges is observed for heights over 2000 m above sea level.