Cell scale microphysics and lightning production in the global tropics.

摘要

This study refines the University of Utah mesoscale precipitation features database as derived from TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) passive microwave (TMI), precipitation radar (PR) and lightning imaging sensor (LIS) data to produce an analogous convective cell-scale dataset. The new dataset is used to examine lightning-producing convection, inherently a cell-scale phenomenon, in different storm and environmental regimes. Herein we describe the database and demonstrate its use in a limited study of convection in continental interior regions of the U.S., Africa and South America, the tropical Maritime Continent region, and the western Pacific Ocean. We also examine convective structure and lightning behavior for the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over the Maritime Continent Region. We conclude that the convective-scale database will be useful for examining global tropical and sub-tropical changes in individual convective cell characteristics such as occurrence frequency, intensity, lightning behavior, and 3-D structure.