Thunderstorms, lightning and solar activity—Middle Europe

✍ Scribed by K. Schlegel; G. Diendorfer; S. Thern; M. Schmidt

• Book ID: 104407229
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 206 KB
• Volume: 63
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1364-6826
• DOI: 10.1016/s1364-6826(01)00053-0

✦ Synopsis

Thunderstorm-solar activity relationships have been studied in the past, mostly with records of audible thunder correlated with sunspot number (R). Our study is new in two aspects: ÿrstly, it uses measured lightning frequency, and secondly, these records are correlated not only with R but also with other parameters characterising solar activity, namely Ap, F10.7 and cosmic ray ux. With data from the German lightning detection system BLIDS we obtain a signiÿcant correlation of lightning frequency with Ap and R, and a signiÿcant anti-correlation with cosmic ray ux. A similar analysis with data from the Austrian system ALDIS yielded inconclusive results. Both observations and earlier ÿndings of spatially varying correlation coe cients between R and thunderstorm frequency can probably be reconciled invoking new ideas about the transmission of a solar activity signal to the lower atmosphere. In these new developments planetary waves play a crucial role.