Climatological aspects of lightning activity in Australia relevant to fire and emergency services — ASN Events
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  3. Climatological aspects of lightning activity in Australia relevant to fire and emergency services

Climatological aspects of lightning activity in Australia relevant to fire and emergency services (#106)

Andrew J Dowdy 1 , Yuri Kuleshov 1
  1. Bureau of Meteorology, Docklands, VIC, Australia

Lightning causes a number of fatalities in Australia each year [1,2], as well as significant economic losses (e.g., damage to infrastructure such as power lines, and fires associated with lightning ignitions [3,4]). Lightning can occur between different parts of a cloud (i.e. cloud-to-cloud lightning) or between the cloud and the ground (i.e. cloud-to-ground lightning). Consequently, the best available climatology of cloud-to-ground lightning is an important resource for organisations such as fire and emergency services, as well as industry, government and insurance groups [5]. A new climatology of cloud-to-ground lightning is examined for the Australian re­gion based on 18 years of satellite data (from two NASA satellite sensors: the Lightning Imaging Sensor and Optical Transient Detector [6,7]). A climatological map of cloud-to-ground lightning flash density is presented, covering the Australian region, representing the most comprehen­sive map of its type to date. The period of data available for this study [8] is over twice as long as used for previ­ous studies [9], thereby allowing a significant update to the climatology. Seasonal variability is examined. The lightning climatology is discussed in relation to fire occurrence in Australia.

  1. Blong, R., 2005: Natural hazards risk assessment - an Australian perspec¬tive. Issues in Risk Science 4, Benfield Hazard Research Centre, Lon¬don, 28 p.
  2. Coates, L., R. Blong and F. Siciliano, 1993: Lightning fatalities in Austra¬lia, 1824–1991. Natural Hazards, 8, 217–33.
  3. Dowdy, A. J. and G. A. Mills, 2012: Characteristics of lightning-attributed wildland fires in south-east Australia. Int. J. Wildland fire, 21(5), 521-524.
  4. Dowdy, A. J., and G. A. Mills. 2012. Atmospheric and fuel moisture char¬acteristics associated with lightning-attributed fires. J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 51, 2025–37, doi: 10.1175/JAMC-D-11-0219.1
  5. Standards Australia, 2007: Lightning Protection—Australian Standard/ New Zealand Standard 1768:2007, 199pp, Sydney, Australia and Stan¬dards Association of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand.
  6. Boccippio, D. J., W. J. Koshak and R. J. Blakeslee, 2002: Performance As¬sessment of the Optical Transient Detector and Lightning Imaging Sensor. Part I: Predicted Diurnal Variability. J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech¬nol., 19, 1318–32.
  7. Christian, H. J., R. J. Blakeslee, D. J. Boccippio, W. L. Boeck, D. E. Buechler, K. T. Driscoll, S. J. Goodman, J. M. Hall, W. J. Koshak, D. M. Mach and M. F. Stewart, 2003: Global frequency and distribution of lightning as observed from space by the Optical Transient Detector. J. Geophys. Res., 108(D1), 4005, doi: 10.1029/2002JD002347.
  8. Dowdy, A. J. and Y. Kuleshov, 2014: Lightning climatology of Australia: temporal and spatial variability. Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal, 64, 9-14.
  9. Kuleshov, Y., D. Mackerras and M. Darveniza, 2006: Spatial distribution and frequency of lightning activity and lightning flash density maps for Australia. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D19105, doi:10.1029/2005JD006982.
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