Lightning meteorology focuses on investigating the lightning activities in different types of convective weather systems and the relationship of lightning to the dynamic and microphysical processes in thunder- storms. With the development and application of advanced lightning detection and location technologies, lightning meteorology has been developed into an important interdiscipline between atmospheric electricity and meteorology. This paper mainly reviews the advances of lightning meteorology research in recent years in China from the following five aspects： 1） development of advanced lightning location technology, 2） char- acteristics of lightning activity in different convective systems, 3） relationship of lightning to the dynamic and microphysical processes in thunderstorms, 4） charge structure of thunderstorms, and 5） lightning data assimilation techniques and application to severe weather forecasting. In addition, some important aspects on future research of the lightning meteorology are proposed.
Data from the Beijing SAFIR 3000 lightning detection system and Doppler radar provided some insights into the three-dimensional lightning structure and evolution of a leading-line and trailing-stratiform （LLTS） mesoscale convective system （MCS） over Beijing on 31 July 2007. Most of the lightning in the LLTS-MCS was intracloud （IC） lightning, while the mean ratio of positive cloud-to-ground （＋CG） lightning to –CG lightning was 1：4, which was higher than the average value from previous studies. The majority of CG lightning occurred in the convective region of the radar echo, particularly at the leading edge of the front. Little IC lightning and little ＋CG lightning occurred in the stratiform region. The distribution of the CG lightning indicated that the storm had a tilted dipole structure given the wind shear or the tripole charge structure. During the storm’s development, most of the IC lightning occurred at an altitude of ～9.5 km; the lightning rate reached its maximum at 10.5 km, the altitude of IC lightning in the mature stage of the storm. When the thunderstorm began to dissipate, the altitude of the IC lightning decreased gradually. The spatial distribution of lightning was well correlated with the rainfall on the ground, although the peak value of rainfall appeared 75 min later than the peak lightning rate.
Electrification and simple discharge schemes are coupled into a 3D Regional Atmospheric Model System （RAMS） as microphysical parameterizations, in accordance with electrical experiment results. The dynamics, microphysics, and electrifi- cation components are fully integrated into the RAMS model, and the inductive and non-inductive electrification mechanisms are considered in the charging process. The results indicate that the thunderstorm mainly had a normal tripole charge structure. The simulated charge structure and lightning frequency are basically consistent with observations of the lightning radiation source distribution. The non-inductive charging mechanism contributed to the electrification during the whole lifetime of the thunderstorm, while the inductive electrification mechanism played a significant role in the development period and the mature stage when the electric field reached a large value. The charge structure in the convective region and the rearward region are analyzed, showing that the charge density in the convective region was double that in the rearward region.
Three summer thunderstorms in the eastern region of China were analyzed in detail using multiple data, including Doppler radar, lightning location network, TRMM （Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission）, MT- SAT （Multi-Function Transport Satellite） images, NCEP （National Centers for Environmental Prediction） Reanalysis, and radiosonde. Two of the three storms were sprite-producing and the other was non-sprite- producing. The two sprite-producing storms occurred on 1 2 August and 2~28 July 2007, producing 16 and one sprite, respectively. The non-sprite-producing storm occurred on 29-30 July 2007. The major ob- jective of the study was to try to find possible differences between sprite-producing and non-sprite producing storms using the multiple datasets. The results showed that the convection in the 1-2 August storm was the strongest compared with the other storms, and it produced the largest number of sprites. Precipitation ice, cloud ice and cloud water content in the convective regions in the 1-2 August storm were larger than in the other two storms, but the opposite was true in the weak convective regions. The storm microphysical prop- erties along lines through parent CG （cloud-to-ground lightning） locations showed no special characteristics related to sprites. The flash rate evolution in the 1-2 August storm provided additional confirmation that major sprite activity coincides with a rapid decrease in the negative CG flash rate. However, the evolution curve of the CG flash rate was erratic in the sprite-producing storm on 27-28 July, which was significantly different from that in the 1 2 August storm. The average positive CG peak current in sprite-producing storms was larger than that in the non-sprite-producing one.
ABSTRACT Data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network （WWLLN） were used to analyze the lightning activity and the relationship between maximum sustained wind and lightning rate in 69 tropical cyclones over the Northwest Pacific Ocean from 2005 to 2009. The minimum lightning density was observed in the category 2 typhoon Kong-Rey （2007）, with a value of only 1.15 d-1 （100 kin）-2. The maximum lightning density occurred in the category 2 typhoon Mitag （2007）, with a value of 510.42 d-1 （100 km）-2. The average lightning density decreased with radius from the typhoon center in both weak （categories 1-3） and super （categories 4-5） typhoons. The average lightning density in the inner core of super typhoons was more than twice as large as that for weak typhoons. Both groups of typhoons showed a near-monotonic decrease in lightning density with radius. Results also showed that lightning activity was more active in typhoons that made landfall than in those that did not. The mean correlation coefficient between the accumulated flashes within a 600-kin radius and the maximum wind speed in the weak typhoons and super typhoons was 0.81 and 0.74, respectively. For more than 78% （56%） of the super （weak） typhoons, the lightning activity peaked before the maximum sustained wind speed, with the most common leading time being 30 （60） h. The results suggest that, for the Northwest Pacific Ocean, lightning activity might be used as a measurement of the intensification of typhoons.
