Regional Responses of Lightning Activities to Relative Humidity of the Surface

Abstract

AbstractGlobal flash activity shows great contrast in different regions. Temperature and humidity are the essential meteorological factors that result in this difference. The regional response of lightning activities to the relative humidity (RH) is examined at different longitudes and latitudes using lightning data based on satellite and NCEP metrological observations (from 1995 to 2002). The result indicates that lightning activities respond positively to RH within longitudinal belts where RH is more than 74% and negatively for the region where RH is less than 72%. A similar response is found in latitudinal belts. It can be concluded that higher relative humidity results in more lighting activities at dry regions and less lighting activities at wet regions. The watershed of relative humidity for lightning production is about 72%~74%. Six special regions have been chosen to validate above results and an agreement has been found.