NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
The 1997-98 El Nino Event and Related Wintertime Lightning Variations in the Southeastern United StatesThe El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate anomaly responsible for worldwide weather impacts ranging from droughts to floods. In the United States, warm episode years are known to produce above normal rainfall along the Southeast U.S. Gulf Coast and into the Gulf of Mexico, with the greatest response observed in the October-March period of the warm episode year. The 1997-98 warm episode is notable for being the strongest event since 198283. With the recent launch of a lightning sensor on NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) in November 1997 and the detailed coverage of the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), such interannual changes in lightning activity can be examined with far greater detail than ever before. For the 1997-98 ENSO event the most significant year-to-year changes in lightning frequency worldwide occurred along the Gulf Coast and within the Gulf of Mexico basin during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Within a broad swath across the northern Gulf of Mexico basin there is a 100-150% increase in lightning days year-to-year (a peak of 33 days in the winter of 1997-98 vs. only 15 days or fewer in both the 1996-97 and 1998-99 winter). In addition, there is a nearly 200% increase in lightning hours (a peak of 138 hours in 1996-97 vs. 50 hours in both 1996-97 and 1998-99). The increase in lightning activity during ENSO occurs in association with a 100% increase in the number of synoptic scale cyclones that developed within or moved through the Gulf basin. The primary variables controlling these enhancements in thunderstorm activity are the position and strength of the jet stream.
Document ID
20000053085
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Goodman, S. J.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Buechler, D. E.
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL United States)
Knupp, K.
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL United States)
Driscoll, K.
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL United States)
McCaul, E. W., Jr.
(Universities Space Research Association Huntsville, AL United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
February 15, 2000
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
Volume: 27
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0094-8276
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
Paper-1999GL010808
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NRA-97-MTPE-03
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available