Poster

IAMAS

M14 - Lightning, Thunderstorms and Atmospheric Electricity

The Relationship between the Lightning Channel Morphology and the Distribution of Turbulence in Thunderstorms

The development of lightning is influenced by the dynamic conditions of thunderstorms; therefore, the lightning channel morphology can also reflect the dynamic characteristics of thunderstorms. At present, the understanding of the correspondence between the two is still focused on macro aspects, lacking research on the thunderstorm dynamic structure based on tracking lightning channel paths. This study comprehensively utilized three-dimensional radiation source positioning data observed by LMA and radar data to investigate the relationship between lightning morphology (including overall and local morphology) and turbulence characteristics in thunderstorms. The relationship between channel morphology and turbulence characteristics proposed in this study is consistent with the simulation results of the model. This analysis indicates that both the overall channel complexity and the morphological changes in lightning channel extension are closely related to the distribution of different eddy dissipation rate (EDR). For the overall morphology of lightning, lightning with complex channel morphology is more commonly found in regions with larger EDRs. For lightning that propagates unidirectionally within a certain height range, it tends to develop in the direction of decreasing EDRs. During lightning development, the lightning channel usually bifurcates and turns in regions with large radial velocity gradients and large EDRs. This study reveals the relationship between lightning morphology and thunderstorm dynamics, providing a new method for the direct application of channel-level localization data to understand thunderstorm dynamics characteristics.