The anomalous variation of the lightning activity in southern China during the 1997/98 El Niño event

• Published in: Science China. Earth sciences 2005-09, Vol.48 (9), p.1537-1547
• Main Authors: Ma, Ming, Tao, Shanchang, Zhu, Baoyou, LÜ, Weitao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annual variations; Anomalies; Coastal zone; Convective precipitation; El Nino; El Nino events; El Nino phenomena; El Nino-Southern Oscillation event; Hydrology; Interannual variations; Lightning; Lightning activity; Meteorology; Precipitation; Seasons; Southern Oscillation; Spring; Spring (season); Variation; Winter
• ISSN: 1674-7313; 1869-1897
• DOI: 10.1360/03yd0357

This paper presents the EOF analysis results of the lightning density (LD) anomalies for the different seasons in southeastern China and Indochina Peninsula by using the OTD/LIS database (June 1995 to Feb. 2003) of the global LD with 2.5Ü×2.5× resolution offered by Global Hydrology Resource Center. It is shown that the LD positive anomalies in the region occurred at the same time of NINO3 SSTA steep increase in the spring of 1997 and remained to be a higher level till the next spring, as well the corresponding anomaly percent maximum in different seasons was 89%, 30%, 45%, 498% and 55% successively from the beginning to the end of the 1997/98 El Niño event (ENSO). The centre of the LD positive anomalies for the spring or winter season is located at southeastern China and the adjacent coastal areas, but it for the summer or autumn season is located at the southern Indochina Peninsula and Gulf of Thailand, whose position for each season in the ENSO as contrasted with the normal years has a westward shift, and especially for winter or spring season a northward shift at the same time. In addition, an analysis of the interannual variations in the LD anomaly percent, convective precipitation and H-CAPE days in southern China shows that each among the three anomaly percents is correlative with the other for the positive anomaly zone and Kuroshio area. The relative variation of LD during the El Niño period is the highest among the three rates and is larger than that during the non-El Niño period, meaning that the response of lightning activities to the ENSO is the most sensitive in both areas. But the response of lightning activities and precipitation to the ENSO appears to be more complex and diversified either in Kuroshio area or in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and northwestern and northeastern China.