New World Meteorological Organization Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance (709 km) and Duration (16.73 s) Recorded From Space
Abstract
Identification and validation of atmospheric extremes are essential to monitoring climate change, to addressing engineering and safety concerns, and to promoting technological advancement. An international World Meteorological Organization evaluation committee has critically adjudicated and recommended acceptance of two lightning megaflash events (horizontal mesoscale lightning discharges of >100 km in length) as new global extremes using analysis of Geostationary Lightning Mapper data. The world's greatest extent for an individual lightning flash is a single flash that covered a horizontal distance of 709 ± 8 km (441 ± 5 mi) across parts of southern Brazil on 31 October 2018. Furthermore, the greatest duration for a single lightning flash is 16.730 ± 0.002 s from a flash that developed continuously over northern Argentina on 4 March 2019.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[4];
[2];
[5];
[7];
[9];
[10]
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, AL (United States)
- Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)
- Univ. da São, São Paulo (Brazil)
- FMA Research, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
- Météorage, Pau (France)
- New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM (United States)
- Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
- Univ. Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona (Spain); Univ. of East Anglia, Norwich (United Kingdom)
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas Expaciais (CNPq)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1671097
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-20-22429
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001; 80NSSC19K1576; NA19NES4320002; AGS1352144; 438638/2018-2; 311457/2017-7
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 47; Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; lightning; megaflash; extremes; flash distance; flash duration
Citation Formats
Peterson, Michael J., Lang, Timothy J., Bruning, Eric C., Albrecht, Rachel, Blakeslee, Richard J., Lyons, Walter A., Pédeboy, Stéphane, Rison, William, Zhang, Yijun, Brunet, Manola, and Cerveny, Randall S. New World Meteorological Organization Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance (709 km) and Duration (16.73 s) Recorded From Space. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1029/2020gl088888.
Peterson, Michael J., Lang, Timothy J., Bruning, Eric C., Albrecht, Rachel, Blakeslee, Richard J., Lyons, Walter A., Pédeboy, Stéphane, Rison, William, Zhang, Yijun, Brunet, Manola, & Cerveny, Randall S. New World Meteorological Organization Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance (709 km) and Duration (16.73 s) Recorded From Space. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl088888
Peterson, Michael J., Lang, Timothy J., Bruning, Eric C., Albrecht, Rachel, Blakeslee, Richard J., Lyons, Walter A., Pédeboy, Stéphane, Rison, William, Zhang, Yijun, Brunet, Manola, and Cerveny, Randall S. Wed .
"New World Meteorological Organization Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance (709 km) and Duration (16.73 s) Recorded From Space". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl088888. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1671097.
@article{osti_1671097,
title = {New World Meteorological Organization Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance (709 km) and Duration (16.73 s) Recorded From Space},
author = {Peterson, Michael J. and Lang, Timothy J. and Bruning, Eric C. and Albrecht, Rachel and Blakeslee, Richard J. and Lyons, Walter A. and Pédeboy, Stéphane and Rison, William and Zhang, Yijun and Brunet, Manola and Cerveny, Randall S.},
abstractNote = {Identification and validation of atmospheric extremes are essential to monitoring climate change, to addressing engineering and safety concerns, and to promoting technological advancement. An international World Meteorological Organization evaluation committee has critically adjudicated and recommended acceptance of two lightning megaflash events (horizontal mesoscale lightning discharges of >100 km in length) as new global extremes using analysis of Geostationary Lightning Mapper data. The world's greatest extent for an individual lightning flash is a single flash that covered a horizontal distance of 709 ± 8 km (441 ± 5 mi) across parts of southern Brazil on 31 October 2018. Furthermore, the greatest duration for a single lightning flash is 16.730 ± 0.002 s from a flash that developed continuously over northern Argentina on 4 March 2019.},
doi = {10.1029/2020gl088888},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 16,
volume = 47,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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