A Radar and Electrical Study of Tropical “Hot Towers”

Radar and electrical measurements for deep tropical convection are examined for both “break period” and “monsoonal” regimes in the vicinity of Darwin, Australia. Break period convection consists primarily of deep continental convection, whereas oceanic-based convection dominates during monsoonal periods, associated with the monsoon trough over Darwin. Order-of-magnitude enhancements in lightning flash rates for the “break period” regime are associated with 10–20-dB enhancements in radar reflectivity in the mixed-phase region of the convection compared with the monsoonal regime. The latter differences are attributed to the effect of convective available potential energy (CAPE) and its nonlinear influence on the growth and accumulation of ice particles aloft, which are believed to promote charge separation by differential particle motions. CAPE, in turn, is largely determined by the boundary-layer wet-bulb temperature. Modest differences (1°–3°C) in wet-bulb potential temperature between land and sea may account for the order-of-magnitude contrast in recently observed land–ocean lightning activity.