Spatial distribution and frequency of lightning activity and lightning flash density maps for Australia

The spatial distribution and frequency of lightning activity in Australia have been analyzed using lightning data obtained by ground‐based lightning detection instruments denoted CIGRE‐500 and CGR3 and by NASA satellite‐based instruments denoted OTD and LIS. The geographical distribution of lightning incidence is described by a map of total lightning flash density, N t (i.e., cloud‐to‐ground and intracloud flashes). A high level of lightning activity, N t > 10 km −2 yr −1 , is observed in the northern parts of Australia, and a decrease in total flash density occurs southward to N t < 5 km −2 yr −1 in the central and southern parts of Australia. The peak lightning occurrence is in the northwestern part of the Australian continent with N t values up to about 35 km −2 yr −1 centered around 16°S 126°E. A reduction in N t by a factor of about 10 for a change in latitude from 10°S to 40°S was found, which is in agreement with the earlier studies. The data from all the sources were used to estimate the cloud flash‐to‐ground flash ratio, Z, which at the studied localities was found to be in a range of values from 0.75 to 7.7. We concluded that for the range of latitude over Australia the most representative value of Z is about 2 ± 30%, and it is relatively independent of latitude. We used this to develop a map of average annual lightning ground flash density, N g , the first for Australia. N g varies from over 6 km −2 yr −1 in the northern parts of Australia to about 1 km −2 yr −1 and below in the southern parts.