Drop Size Distribution and Lightning Manifestations in AMMA-CATH Area

Abstract

This paper analyses for the first time in tropical area, the relationship between lightning and DSD (Drop Size Distribution) parameters on rainy events that occurred during the monsoon period. The Lightning data used are collected by the LINET (Lightning Detection Network) while the DSD data were recorded by a distrometer. The correlation was computed within five circles of radius varying between 10 to 50 km with a step of 10 km. These consecutive areas are centered on the position of the disdrometer. By taking into account only the convective spectra and remove out of the data the cases where there is rain without any lightning and vice versa, all data was computed with a time scale of one minute during each of the rainy events .The results showed that the exponential and polynomial laws fit better our data than the power and linear laws. The highest correlation coefficients are obtained within a radius of about 20 km around the distrometer location. The correlation between the parameter N o∗ and n is the most stable with a correlation coefficient equal to 0.55