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Lightning and Radar Observations of Mesoscale Convective Systems in the

South of Brazil During the Warm Season *

Conference Paper · August 2011

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 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Lightning and Radar Observations of Mesoscale

Convective Systems in the South of Brazil During the
∗
Warm Season
C. Beneti1, A. J. Pereira Filho2, E. Damian1, L. Calvetti1, M. Jusevicius1, R. Gin3

1. SIMEPAR Technological Institute,

Curitiba, Parana, 81531-980, Brazil,
2. Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences Institute, University of Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
3. Department of Physics, University FEI,
Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo 09.850-901, Brazil

ABSTRACT: This paper presents results of the analysis of weather radar and lightning characteristics of
mesoscale convective systems in the south of Brazil. Precipitation regimes were identified using an objective
clustering algorithm in radar volume data and then compared with lightning flashes. There are 4 distinct regimes,
or clusters, indicating that mesoscale convective systems occur throughout the year with distinct diurnal cycle.

1. INTRODUCTION
In South America, southern parts of Brazil and northeastern Argentina are regions particularly prone to
severe weather events (intense precipitation, hail, flash floods, high lightning activity, strong winds and
tornadoes). Most of the precipitation is associated with extra-tropical cyclones, mesoscale convective systems,
upper level jets, and frontal systems. However, mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are responsible for a
significant amount of the precipitation and severe weather which occurs in this area, mainly during spring and
summer. In this region MCSs have an important role on the hydrological cycle and the incidence of severe
weather , highlighting the importance of improving the knowledge of those weather systems.

2. DATA AND METHODOLOGY

To characterize and evaluate the precipitation and lightning activity regime in the region, a
hydrometeorological observation system is used, comprising a network of automatic weather stations, a S-Band
Doppler weather radar, lightning detection and location network, and satellite information, with the location and
distribution of the system presented in Figure 1. In the analysis presented here, weather radar and lightning
information from the period of August/2002 to June/2009, was used as described below.

2.1 Weather radar data

A S-Band Doppler weather radar is installed in the central region of Parana, with Doppler coverage in an
area of 200km radius (with wind and precipitation measurements) including central and east parts of Parana

∗ Correspondence to:
Cesar Beneti, SIMEPAR Technological Institute, Curitiba, PR, 81531-980, Brazil, e-mail beneti@simepar.br

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 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

state, as well as severe weather surveillance and monitoring in an area of 480km range which also covers a larger
portion of the south of Brazil, as presented in Figure 1. This is an EEC DWSR-93S model, with a 0.95 beam
width antenna, configured to provide high spatial (1km2) and temporal (10 minutes) resolution information.
Volumetric radar data is collected in polar coordinates with a scan strategy varying from 10 to 12 elevation
sweeps, with 16km in height and a substantial spatial coverage in the vertical. A quality control algorithm is used
to ensure removal of ground clutter and speckles in the reflectivity data before interpolation of the raw data in a
regular Cartesian grid with 2km horizontal resolution and 200m in the vertical for a 200km range of the radar.

2.2 Lightning data

A lightning detection and location network is operational since 1998, the Brazilian Lightning Detection
Network (BLDN), covering the south, southeast and center-west of Brazil [Beneti and Sato 2000] as partially
presented in Figure 1. The lightning detection system employs a time-of-arrival (TOA) and
magnetic-direction-finding (MDF) technology for Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning strokes detection, with
information off location and time of occurrence, peak current and polarity. A clustering algorithm was employed
to group individual lightning strokes in lightning flashes. Lightning flash data presented here includes a filter of
10kA peak current to remove possible contamination of intra-cloud strokes in the data [Cummins et al 1998].

2.3 Methodology
In order to objectively identify and define possible regime character in the lightning and radar data
available, a cluster algorithm (K-Means) was applied, similar to that described in Caine et al [2009], to
Frequency with Altitude Diagrams (FADs) [Yuter and Houze 1995] obtained from histograms of the radar
reflectivity volumetric data. For each histogram forming the basis of the FADs and used in the clustering
algorithm, the Total Volume Coverage (TVC) was calculated by summing the number of radar returns over all
levels and reflectivity values then dividing by the total number of observable points. Also, lightning flash data
separated in negative and positive polarity, were obtained for each FAD.

3. RESULTS
The application of a cluster algorithm to the FADs derived from hourly volume scans reveals four major
precipitation regimes in the region, as presented in Figure 2, organized in the order of their Relative Frequency
of Occurrence (RFO), as presented in Table 1. There is a zeroth regime comprising all hourly data with less than
1% of TVC. For each regime, Table 1 also presents the average number of negative and positive flashes for the
corresponding radar volume data.
The regimes, or clusters, with 1% or less TVC (zeroth and Cluster1) represent 77% of the total number of
radar data and, as the radar PPI example in Figure 2, is characterized as small convective cells scattered in the
area, with very little electrical activity, when compared to the other regimes identified.
The regimes represented by Clusters 1 and 2 represent radar echoes with maximum height of 12km and
mostly formed by isolated convective cells with little or almost no stratiform regions associated with them.
These regimes occur throughout the year, but they are more frequent during the warm season which span from
October to March, as demonstrated in Figure 3. These regimes also have clear a diurnal cycle, with a peak in
activity around the early and late afternoon, around 3 or 4PM local time, but large activity from 13 to 22UTC
(10AM to 7PM local time). Their lightning activity follows this distribution of diurnal cycle as well.
The regimes represented by Clusters 3 and 4 represent only 8% of the total sample but generally have TVC
of 17% or more, and accompanied by strong lightning activity as shown in Table 1. There regimes have high
echo top, around 15km, present indication of a Bright Band around 3.5 to 5km of height, in agreement with 0o C
isotherm indicated in radiosonde data of the area (not shown here), and organized convective regions embedded

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 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

in stratiform regions of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs), as shown in Figure 2. The major differences in
these 2 regimes are their ratio of convective/stratiform distribution and organization, with Cluster 4 usually
representing MCSs with more than 100km horizontal scale, not shown here.
The MCSs observed in the regimes (clusters) 3 and 4 are also present throughout the entire year, as
indicated in Figure 3, with a less clear preference for the warm season. However, they occur more frequently in
late afternoon and early night, from 17 to 02UTC, and are more electrically active in the same period of the day,
as indicated in Figure 4.

4. CONCLUSIONS
The present work shows initial results of radar and lightning data analysis regarding the occurrence of
mesoscale convective systems in the south of Brazil. Although these are preliminary results, we expect to have a
better understanding and improvement of our abilities to forecast these storms with strong precipitation and
lightning.

REFERENCES
Beneti, C., and F. Sato, Integration of weather radar and lightning detection systems in Brazil, in Pp. 16th Intern.
Lightning Detection Conference, 2000.
Caine S., C. Jakob, S. Siems, and P. May, Objective classification of precipitating convective regimes using a
weather radar in Darwin, Australia, Mon. Wea. Rev., 137, 1585-1600, 2009
Cummins, K. L., M. J. Murphy, E. A. Bardo, W. Hiscox, and R. B. Pyle, A combined TOA/MDF technology
upgrade of the US NLDN, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 9035-9044, 1998.
Yuter, S. E., and R. A. Houze Jr., A three-dimensinoal kinematic and microphysical evolution of Florida
cumulonimbus, part II: frequency distributions of vertical velocity, reflectivity and differential reflectivity,
Mon. Wea. Rev., 123, 1941-1963, 1995.

Table 1 - Characteristics of the precipitation regimes defined by the K-means clustering algorithm.
Precipitation Relative Frequency of Total Volume Average # Negative Average # Positive
Regime Occurrence (RFO) Coverage (TVC) Flashes Flashes
Zeroth 27.3% - - -
Cluster 1 49.8% 1% 5 3
Cluster 2 14.7% 8% 43 23
Cluster 3 4.7% 17% 145 34
Cluster 4 3.4% 17% 333 57

Figure 1. Hydrometeorological monitoring system infrastructure in the south of Brazil.

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 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Figure 2. The four precipitation regimes defined by the K-means algorithm (FDAs and radar PPIs).

Figure 3. Annual cycle for the precipitation regimes (clusters).

Figure 4. Diurnal cycle for the precipitation regimes (clusters) and lightning observations.

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