A comparative analysis of total lightning observations and cloud-to-ground lightning observations in the Southeastern United States region

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references: p. 74-76.A comparison was performed employing lightning data aphics. collected by the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) satellite and the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). The feasibility of using total lightning flash data, both intracloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG), collected from the OTD satellite in conjunction with CG lightning flashes detected by the NLDN was demonstrated. The IC and CG lightning flashes were determined for the period from 1 August 1995 to 31 July 1996. The percentage positive, mean negative multiplicity, positive mean peak current, and negative mean peak current of the CG lightning was determined and compared to the IC lightning. A positive correlation was found between the percentage of IC lightning and the percentage of positive CG lightning. As the percentage of IC lightning increased from the summer to the winter. the percentage of positive CG lightning did as well. As the percentage of IC lightning decreased from the winter to the summer, the percentage of positive CG lightning followed. A negative correlation was found between the percentage of IC lightning and the mean negative multiplicity. The behavior of the mean negative multiplicity was generally opposite of that of the percentage of IC lightning during the year