Environmental Study of Tropical Hailstorm and its Relationship with Negative Narrow Bipolar Event and Positive Ground Flashes

Dinesh Periannan, Mohd Riduan Ahmad, Muhammad Haziq Mohammad Sabri, Mona Riza Mohd Esa, Sulaiman Ali Mohammad, Gaopeng Lu, Seah Boon York

Ekoloji, 2019, Issue 107, Pages: 253-257, Article No: e107012

OPEN ACCESS

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

The thermodynamic conditions in the environmental storms are derived from the Rapid Update Cycle model analysis, where the point nearest to the storm, in the direction of storm motion was used. This paper presented the evolution (5-minute flash rate) of two tropical hailstorms that occurred in Malaysia at two sites namely Bukit Jalil (approximately 112 km from our station) and Sungai Udang (approximately 22 km from our station) with the objective to understand the relationship of the hailstorms with Negative Narrow Bipolar Event (–NBE) and Positive Cloud-to-Ground (+CG) flashes. The hailstorm occurred in Bukit Jalil on June 3rd 2016 started at around 08:20 (UTC) and producing hails around 10:30. Negative NBE rate reaches the maximum at around 10:30 to 10.40 with 17 –NBEs recorded when the hails were reported to hit the ground. Within the same time, 15 +NBEs were detected. 75 minutes before the hails hit the ground, 30 –NBEs and 70 +NBEs were detected. In contrast, only 3 +CG were detected. On the other hand, after 10.40 and up to 14.30 (230 minutes), only 5 –NBE were detected compared to 244 +NBEs and 9 +CGs. The hailstorm occurred in Sungai Udang on September 14th 2016 started at around 17:00 and producing hails around 19:00 to 19:30. Within this 30 minutes duration, 70 +CGs were detected when the hails were reported to hit the ground. 120 minutes before the hails hit the ground, only 4 –NBE were detected compared to 154 +NBEs and 22 +CGs were detected. After 19.30 up to 20.30 (60 minutes duration), 4 +NBEs and 18 +CGs were detected while no –NBE has been recorded. Based on the results of these 2 tropical hailstorms, clearly stronger convection does not related only to higher –NBEs flash rate but also highly correlated to +CGs flash rate.

Keywords

negative narrow bipolar event, positive cloud-to-ground flash hailstorm, environmental parameters

References

  • Ahmad MR, Esa MRM, Cooray V, Baharudin ZA, Hettiarachchi P (2015) Latitude dependence of narrow bipolar pulse emissions. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 128: 40-45.
  • Ahmad MR, Esa MRM, Cooray V, Dutkiewicz E (2014) Interference from cloud-to-ground and cloud flashes in wireless communication system. Electr. Power Syst. Res. 113: 237–246.
  • Azlinda Ahmad N, Fernando M, Baharudin ZA, Cooray V, Ahmad H, Abdul Malek Z (2010) Characteristics of narrow bipolar pulses observed in Malaysia. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 72: 534–540.
  • Ben Salah, R., Snoussi, M., Louati, N., Donia, C., Frikha, F., Hela, M., Zouhir, B (2018) The lymphoproliferative auto-immune syndrome: a rare cause of peripheral cytopenia. Electronic Journal of General Medicine, 15(5), em78. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/94112
  • Çanakçı SE, Turkdogan KA, Dağlı B, Aköz A, Avcil M, Duman A (2018) Retrospective Investigation of Treatment Protocols for Drug Poisonings Admitted to Emergency Department. J Clin Exp Invest, 9(1):14-20. https://doi.org/10.5799/jcei.413055
  • Esa MRM, Ahmad MR, Cooray V (2014) Wavelet analysis of the first electric field pulse of lightning flashes in Sweden. Atmos. Res. 138: 253–267. https://doi.org/10.1016.j.atmosres.2013.11.019
  • Gunasekara TALN, Fernando M, Sonnadara U, Cooray V (2016) Characteristics of Narrow Bipolar Pulses observed from lightning in Sri Lanka. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 138-139: 66-73.
  • Jacobson AR, Heavner MJ (2005) Comparison of narrow bipolar events with ordinary lightning as proxies for severe convection. Mon. Weather Rev. 133(5): 1144–1154.
  • Lu G, Jiang R, Qie X, Zhang H, Sun Z, Liu M, Wang Z, Liu K (2014) Burst of intracloud current pulses during the initial continuous current of a rocket-triggered lightning flash, Geophys. Res. Lett.. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062127
  • Lü F, Zhu B, Zhou H, Rakov VA, Xu W, Qin Z (2013) Observations of compact intracloud lightning discharges in the northernmost region (51N) of China. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 118: 4458-4465. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50295
  • Nag A, Rakov VA, Tsalikis D, Cramer JA (2010) On phenomenology of compact intracloud discharges. J. Geophys. Res. 115: D14115. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012957
  • Sharma SR, Cooray V, Fernando M (2011) Unique lightning activities pertinent to tropical and temperate thunderstorms. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 73: 483–487.
  • Smith DA, Shao XM, Holden DN, Rhodes CT, Brook M, Krehbiel PR, Stanley M, Rison W, Thomas RJ (1999) A distinct class of isolated intracloud lightning discharges and their associates radio emmission . J. Geophys. Res. 104: 4189–4212.
  • Suszcynsky DM, Heavner MJ (2003) Narrow Bipolar Events as indicators of convective strength. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30: 1879. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017834
  • Wu T, Dong W, Zhang Y, Funaki T, Yoshida S, Morimoto T, Ushio T, Kawasaki Z (2012) Discharge height of lightning narrow bipolar events. J. Geophys. Res. 117: D05119. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD017054
  • Wu T, Takayanagi Y, Yoshida S, Funaki T, Ushio T (2013) Spatial relationship between lightning narrow bipolar events and parent thunderstorms as revealed by phased array radar. Geophys. Res. Lett. 40: 618–623. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50112
  • Wiens KC, Hamlin T, Harlin J, Suszcynsky DM (2008) Relationships among Narrow Bipolar Events, “total” lightning, and radar-inferred convective strength in Great Plains thunderstorms. J. Geophys. Res. 113: D05201. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009400
  • Williams ER, Renno NO (1993) An analysis of the conditional instability of the tropical atmosphere. Mon. Weather Rev. 121: 21–36.
  • Zhang H, Lu G, Qie X, Jiang R, Fan Y, Tian Y, Sun Z, Liu M, Wang Z, Liu D, Feng G (2016) Locating narrow bipolar events with single-station measurement of low-frequency magnetic fields. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 143-144: 88-101.
  • Zhu B, Zhou H, Ma M, Tao S (2010) Observations of narrow bipolar events in East China. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 72: 271–278.