Osmar Pinto Jr.^1*, Iara Regina Cardoso de Almeida Pinto¹, Osmar P. Neto²

Show more
¹ Atmospheric Electricity Group, Earth System Science Center, National Institute of Space Research, S. J. Campos, Brazil.
² Camilo Castelo Branco University (Unicastelo), S. J. Campos, Brazil.
Show less

Abstract: Urbanization has an increasing contribution to anthropogenic climate forcing. The impact arises mainly from the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and aerosol anthropogenic emissions. An important but not completely understood consequence of this forcing is its effect on local lightning activity. Changes in lightning activity may result in a feedback on the climate system. In this article, it investigates changes in the lightning activity in the city of Manaus, located in the Amazon region of Brazil. It is found that, over the city, the lightning activity is larger than in the regions around it and it has been increasing in the last four decades simultaneously with the increasing of its urban area. Our results suggest that such changes are caused by the UHI effect. The observations reported here are unique and relevant because Manaus is located in the central part of the Amazon rainforest and inside one of the three global lightning chimneys in the world.

Keywords: Lightning; Urban Effects; Amazon Region

Cite this paper: O. Pinto Jr., I. Pinto and O. Neto, "Lightning Enhancement in the Amazon Region Due to Urban Activity," American Journal of Climate Change, Vol. 2 No. 4, 2013, pp. 270-274. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2013.24026.

References

[1]   O. Pinto Jr., “Lightning in the Tropics: From a Source of Fire to a Monitoring System of Climate Changes,” Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, 2009.

[2]   H. Le Treut, R. Somerville, U. Cubasch, Y. Ding, C. Mauritzen, A. Mokssit, T. Peterson and M. Prather, “Historical Overview of Climate Change,” In: S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K. B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H. L. Miller, Eds., Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, 2007, pp. 95-127.

[3]   H. Tost, P. Jockel and J. Lelieveld, “Lightning and Convection Parameterisations—Uncertainties in Global Modelling,” Atmospheric Chemistry Physics, Vol. 7, No. 17, 2007, pp. 4553-4568.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-4553-2007

[4]   E. R. Williams, “Global Circuit Response to Seasonal Variations in Global Surface Air Temperature,” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 122, No. 8, 1994, pp. 1917-1929.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1994)122<1917:GCRTSV>2.0.CO;2

[5]   B. Ye, A. D. Del Genio and K. K.-W. Lo, “CAPE Variations in the Current Climate and in a Climate Change,” Journal of Climate, Vol. 11, No. 8, 1998, pp. 1997-2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442-11.8.1997

[6]   C. A. DeMott and D. A. Randall, “Observed Variations of Tropical Convective Available Potential Energy,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 109, No. 2, 2004, pp. 438-453.

[7]   A. Gettelman, D. J. Seidel, M. C. Wheeler and R. J. Ross, “Multidecadal Trends in Tropical Convective Available Potential Energy,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, No. 21, 2002, pp. 4606-4613.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001082

[8]   K. Riemann-Campe, K. Fraedricha and F. Lunkeit, “Global Climatology of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and Convective Inhibition (CIN) in ERA-40 reanalysis,” Atmospheric Research, Vol. 93, No. 1-3, 2009, pp. 534-545.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2008.09.037

[9]   B. Stone, “Urban and Rural Temperature Trends in Proximity to Large US Cities: 1951-2000,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 27, No. 13, 2007, pp. 1801-1807.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1555

[10]   F. Fujibe, “Detection of Urban Warming in Recent Temperature Trends in Japan,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 29, No. 12, 2009, pp. 1811-1822.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1822

[11]   T. Oke, “The Energetic Basis of the Urban Heat Island,” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 108, No. 455, 1982, pp. 1-24.

[12]   A. J. Arnfield, “Two Decades of Urban Climate Research: A Review of Turbulence, Exchanges of Energy and Water, and the Urban Heat Island,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2003, pp. 1-24.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.859

[13]   W. T. L. Chow and M. Roth, “Temporal Dynamics of the Urban Heat Island of Singapore,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 26, No. 15, 2006, pp. 2243-2260.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1364

[14]   I. D. Stewart, “A Systematic Review and Scientific Critique of Methodology in Modern Urban Heat Island Literature,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2011, pp. 200-217.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.2141

[15]   I. D. Stewart and T. R. Oke, “Local Climate Zones for Urban Temperature Studies,” Bulletin American Meteorological Society, Vol. 93, No. 12, 2012, pp. 1879-1900.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00019.1

[16]   M. P. McCarthy, M. J. Best and R. A. Betts, “Climate Change in Cities Due to Global Warming and Urban Effects,” Geophysical Research Letter, Vol. 37, No. 9, 2010, pp. 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010GL042845

[17]   G. Martine, “State of World Population 2007, Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth,” UNFPA Report, United Nations Population Fund, New York, 2007.

[18]   D. O. Souza and R. C. S. Alvalá, “Observational Evidence of the Urban Heat Island of Manaus City, Brazil,” Meteorological Applications, 2012, in Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/met.1340

[19]   F. W. S. Correia and R. A. F. Souza, “Urban Heat Island in the City of Manaus: An Observational and Numeric Study,” University of Amazonas State (UEA) Report, Internal Report, Manaus, 2012 (in Portuguese).

[20]   M. L. Hutchins, R. H. Holzworth, J. B. Brundell and C. J. Rodger, “Relative Detection Efficiency of the World Wide Lightning Location Network,” Radio Science, Vol. 47, No. 6, 2012, pp. 1-24.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012RS005049

[21]   H. J. Christian, R. J. Blakeslee, S. J. Goodman, D. M. Mach, M. F. Stewart, D. E. Buechler, W. J. Koshak, J. M. Hall, W. L. Boeck, K. T. Driscoll and D. J. Boccippio, “The Lightning Imaging Sensor,” Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity (ICAE), Guntersville, 23 June 1999, pp. 746-749.

[22]   N. E. Westcott, “Summertime Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Activity around Major Midwestern Urban Areas,” Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 34, No. 7, 1995, pp. 1633-1642. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450-34.7.1633

[23]   R. E. Orville, G. R. Huffines, J. Nielsen-Gammon, R. Zhang, B. Ely, S. Steiger, S. Phillips, S. Allen and W. Read, “Enhancement of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning over Houston, Texas,” Geophysical Research Letter, Vol. 28, No. 13, 2001, pp. 2597-2600.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001GL012990

[24]   S. Steiger, R. E. Orville and G. Huffines, “Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Characteristics over Houston, Texas: 1989-2000,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, No. 11, 2002, pp. 4117-4129.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001142

[25]   K. P. Naccarato, O. Pinto Jr. and I. R. C. A. Pinto, “Evidence of Thermal and Aerosol Effects on the Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Density and Polarity over Large Urban Areas of Southeastern Brazil,” Geophysical Research Letter, Vol. 30, No. 13, 2003, pp. 1674-1677.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017496

[26]   I. R. C. A. Pinto, O. Pinto Jr., M. A. S. S. Gomes and N. J. Ferreira, “Urban Effect on the Characteristics of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning over Belo Horizonte-Brazil,” Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2004, pp. 697-700.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/angeo-22-697-2004

[27]   S. K. Kar, Y.-A. Liou and K.-J. Há, “Characteristics of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Activity over Seoul, South Korea in Relation to an Urban Effect,” Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 25, No. 10, 2007, pp. 2113-2118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/angeo-25-2113-2007

[28]   O. Pinto Jr. and I. R. C. A. Pinto, “On the Sensitivity of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Activity to Surface Air Temperature Changes at Different Time Scales in Sao Paulo, Brazil,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 113, No. 20, 2008, pp. 22334-22343.

[29]   O. Pinto Jr., I. R. C. A. Pinto and M. A. S. Ferro, “A Study of the Long-Term Variability of Thunderstorm Days in Southeast Brazil,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 118, No. 5, 2013, pp. 1-16.

[30]   E. R. Williams and G. Sátori, “Lightning, Thermodynamic and Hydrological Comparison of the Two Tropical Continental Chimneys,” Journal of Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 66, No. 13-14, 2004, pp. 1213-1231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2004.05.015

[31]   S. J. Goodman, R. J. Blakeslee, W. J. Koshak, D. Mach, J. Bailey, D. Buechler, L. Carey, C. Schultz, M. Bateman, E. McCaul Jr. and G. Stano, “The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM),” Atmospheric Research, Vol. 125-126, 2013, pp. 34-49.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.01.006