Winter thunderstorms in Kamchatka

С Э Смирнов ,Yury Mikhailov ,G A Mikhailova ,О А Капустина

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/201912701011

Abstract

Winter thunderstorms in Kamchatka are rare meteorological phenomena. To investigate the nature of this phenomenon, time variations of quasistatic electric field and meteorological quantities at «Paratunka» observatory, IKIR FEB RAS (φ = 52:97° N; λ = 158:25° E), and the data on solar, seismic and cyclonic activities available in INTERNET were used as a thunderstorm activity indicator. It was shown that powerful solar flares accompanied by radiation increases in visible and infra-red spectra as well as the Earth infra-red radiation entering the atmosphere before powerful earthquakes with magnitude M > 8 may be additional sources of heat in the near-ground atmosphere of Kamchatka. The impact of tropical cyclones on the processes of thunderstorm activity formation in Kamchatka during weak seismic activity has been determined insufficiently and requires further detailed investigation.

Highlights

Winter thunderstorms in Kamchatka are very rare meteorological phenomena which are observed once or twice within five-year period, according to some sources, and within two-year period, according to others
As an indicator of thunderstorm activity we considered diurnal variations of quasi-static electric field strength (Ez-component) simultaneously with meteorological quantity variations in the near-ground atmosphere at «Paratunka» FEB RAS observatory (φ = 52.97◦ N; λ = 158.25◦ E)
As it follows from meteo-service archives [www.pogodaiklimat.ru], winter thunderstorms occur very rarely in Kamchatka

Summary

Introduction

Winter thunderstorms in Kamchatka are very rare meteorological phenomena which are observed once or twice within five-year period, according to some sources, and within two-year period, according to others. Meteorologists associate this phenomenon with the peculiarities of local climate which differs by significant instability determined by the surrounding sea influence, constant motion of air masses due to air pressure changes and the effect of cyclones arriving from the Pacific Ocean. This paper is devoted to a detailed analysis of winter thunderstorm occurrences in Kamchatka, including simultaneous records of quasi-static electric field strength and meteorological quantities as well as solar, cyclonic and seismic activity data to estimate their contribution into the development of thunderstorm processes in the near-ground atmosphere

Initial experimental data

Main results

Discusion and conclusions