Vant-Hull, B.; Koshak, W. Spatial Structure of Lightning and Precipitation Associated with Lightning-Caused Wildfires in the Central to Eastern United States. Fire2023, 6, 262.
Vant-Hull, B.; Koshak, W. Spatial Structure of Lightning and Precipitation Associated with Lightning-Caused Wildfires in the Central to Eastern United States. Fire 2023, 6, 262.
Vant-Hull, B.; Koshak, W. Spatial Structure of Lightning and Precipitation Associated with Lightning-Caused Wildfires in the Central to Eastern United States. Fire2023, 6, 262.
Vant-Hull, B.; Koshak, W. Spatial Structure of Lightning and Precipitation Associated with Lightning-Caused Wildfires in the Central to Eastern United States. Fire 2023, 6, 262.
Abstract
The horizontal storm structure surrounding lightning ignited wildfires is examined using Vaisala’s National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), NCEP’s Stage IV gauge corrected radar precipitation mosaic, and the US Forest Service’s Fire Occurrence Database. Though lightning flash density peaks strongly around fire ignitions on the instantaneous 1 km scale, on the hourly 10 km scale both the lightning and precipitation peaks are typically offset from fire ignitions. Lightning density is higher and precipitation lower around ignition points compared to non-ignition points. Both regression and horizontal distributions are consistent with the claim that positive flashes have a stronger association with ignition than negative flashes, but the statistical significance remains ambiguous
Keywords
wildfire; lightning igntion; Dry lightning
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
