The response between VTEC and lightning activity over the Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

Lightning events could cause ionospheric disturbance on performance of radio signals which could lead to errors. The objective of the study is to investigate the response of vertical total electron content (VTEC) during lightning activity over the Antarctic Peninsula for the year 2017. The lightning data were obtained from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) while the lightning flash data were obtained from the Lightning Detector (LD350) which can detect positive and negative cloud-to-ground (+CG and -CG) flashes. The VTEC data were analyzed from the GPS's ground based station for Carlini (CARL), O'Higgins (OHI2) and Palmer (PALV). The yearly lightning distribution was 117 strikes during low geomagnetic storms. The average ΔVTEC obtained was less than 1 TECU because very low number of lightning activity was detected which contributed to a very low increment of VTEC. The lightning flash per hour was in the range of 1200–1700 in February until April which indicates a very active lightning flash activity. From May until December, less than 200 flashes per hour were detected due to change in season. The lightning distribution for -CG was above 45% and for +CG, it was below 45%. The correlation between lighting flash and VTEC during low geomagnetic activity shows that 19% of the total events was a weak negative and weak positive correlation each as a result of VTEC complexity and thundercloud variation. VTEC enhancement could be contributed by halo film which was involved in ionization and strong sprite that penetrates through the ionosphere.