Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions

<p>Lightning is the major cause of the natural ignition of wildfires worldwide and produces the largest wildfires in some regions. Lightning strokes produce about 5 % of forest fires in the Mediterranean Basin and are one of the most important precursors of the largest forest fires during the...

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Autores principales:	F. J. Pérez-Invernón, H. Huntrieser, S. Soler, F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez, N. Pineda, J. Navarro-González, V. Reglero, J. Montanyà, O. van der Velde, N. Koutsias
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Copernicus Publications 2021
Materias:	Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/fe5d1eca792d44bcbd71a323ace11c79
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:fe5d1eca792d44bcbd71a323ace11c792021-12-02T13:34:17ZLightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions10.5194/acp-21-17529-20211680-73161680-7324https://doaj.org/article/fe5d1eca792d44bcbd71a323ace11c792021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/17529/2021/acp-21-17529-2021.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324<p>Lightning is the major cause of the natural ignition of wildfires worldwide and produces the largest wildfires in some regions. Lightning strokes produce about 5 % of forest fires in the Mediterranean Basin and are one of the most important precursors of the largest forest fires during the summer. Lightning-ignited wildfires produce significant emissions of aerosols, black carbon, and trace gases, such as CO, <span class="inline-formula">SO<sub>2</sub></span>, <span class="inline-formula">CH<sub>4</sub></span>, and <span class="inline-formula">O<sub>3</sub></span>, affecting air quality. Characterization of the meteorological and cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires in the Mediterranean Basin can serve to improve fire forecasting models and to upgrade the implementation of fire emissions in atmospheric models.</p> <p>This study investigates the meteorological and cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires (LIWs) and long continuing current (LCC) lightning flashes in the Iberian Peninsula and Greece. LCC lightning and lightning in dry thunderstorms with a low precipitation rate have been proposed to be the main precursors of the largest wildfires. We use lightning data provided by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN), and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on board the International Space Station (ISS), together with four databases of wildfires produced in Spain, Portugal, southern France, and Greece, respectively, in order to produce a climatology of LIWs and LCC lightning over the Mediterranean Basin. In addition, we use meteorological data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 reanalysis data set and by the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), together with the Cloud Top Height product (CTHP) derived from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites measurements to investigate the meteorological conditions of LIWs and LCC lightning. According to our results, LIWs and a significant amount of LCC lightning flashes tend to occur in dry thunderstorms with weak updrafts. Our results suggest that LIWs tend to occur in clouds with a high base and with a vertical content of moisture lower than the climatological value, as well as with a higher temperature and a lower precipitation rate. Meteorological conditions of LIWs from the Iberian Peninsula and Greece are in agreement, although some differences possibly caused by the highly variable topography in Greece and a more humid environment are observed. These results show the possibility of using the typical meteorological and cloud conditions of LCC lightning flashes as proxy to parameterize the ignition of wildfires in atmospheric or forecasting models.</p>F. J. Pérez-InvernónH. HuntrieserS. SolerF. J. Gordillo-VázquezN. PinedaN. PinedaJ. Navarro-GonzálezV. RegleroJ. MontanyàO. van der VeldeN. KoutsiasCopernicus PublicationsarticlePhysicsQC1-999ChemistryQD1-999ENAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 21, Pp 17529-17557 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999
spellingShingle	Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 F. J. Pérez-Invernón H. Huntrieser S. Soler F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez N. Pineda N. Pineda J. Navarro-González V. Reglero J. Montanyà O. van der Velde N. Koutsias Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
description	<p>Lightning is the major cause of the natural ignition of wildfires worldwide and produces the largest wildfires in some regions. Lightning strokes produce about 5 % of forest fires in the Mediterranean Basin and are one of the most important precursors of the largest forest fires during the summer. Lightning-ignited wildfires produce significant emissions of aerosols, black carbon, and trace gases, such as CO, <span class="inline-formula">SO<sub>2</sub></span>, <span class="inline-formula">CH<sub>4</sub></span>, and <span class="inline-formula">O<sub>3</sub></span>, affecting air quality. Characterization of the meteorological and cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires in the Mediterranean Basin can serve to improve fire forecasting models and to upgrade the implementation of fire emissions in atmospheric models.</p> <p>This study investigates the meteorological and cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires (LIWs) and long continuing current (LCC) lightning flashes in the Iberian Peninsula and Greece. LCC lightning and lightning in dry thunderstorms with a low precipitation rate have been proposed to be the main precursors of the largest wildfires. We use lightning data provided by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN), and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on board the International Space Station (ISS), together with four databases of wildfires produced in Spain, Portugal, southern France, and Greece, respectively, in order to produce a climatology of LIWs and LCC lightning over the Mediterranean Basin. In addition, we use meteorological data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 reanalysis data set and by the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), together with the Cloud Top Height product (CTHP) derived from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites measurements to investigate the meteorological conditions of LIWs and LCC lightning. According to our results, LIWs and a significant amount of LCC lightning flashes tend to occur in dry thunderstorms with weak updrafts. Our results suggest that LIWs tend to occur in clouds with a high base and with a vertical content of moisture lower than the climatological value, as well as with a higher temperature and a lower precipitation rate. Meteorological conditions of LIWs from the Iberian Peninsula and Greece are in agreement, although some differences possibly caused by the highly variable topography in Greece and a more humid environment are observed. These results show the possibility of using the typical meteorological and cloud conditions of LCC lightning flashes as proxy to parameterize the ignition of wildfires in atmospheric or forecasting models.</p>
format	article
author	F. J. Pérez-Invernón H. Huntrieser S. Soler F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez N. Pineda N. Pineda J. Navarro-González V. Reglero J. Montanyà O. van der Velde N. Koutsias
author_facet	F. J. Pérez-Invernón H. Huntrieser S. Soler F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez N. Pineda N. Pineda J. Navarro-González V. Reglero J. Montanyà O. van der Velde N. Koutsias
author_sort	F. J. Pérez-Invernón
title	Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
title_short	Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
title_full	Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
title_fullStr	Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
title_full_unstemmed	Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
title_sort	lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the mediterranean basin: preferential meteorological conditions
publisher	Copernicus Publications
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/fe5d1eca792d44bcbd71a323ace11c79
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Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions

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