%0 Conference Proceedings
%@nexthigherunit 8JMKD3MGPCW/43SRC6S
%@holdercode {isadg {BR SPINPE} ibi 8JMKD3MGPCW/3DT298S}
%B International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, 14.
%X The frequency of lightning over the Earth has been the object of interest and research for decades. Several authors estimated different global flash rates using ground-based instruments, but it has been the satellite era that enabled us to monitor lightning occurrence on a global scale in time and location. Launched into space as a component of NASAs Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, in November 1997, the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) is still operating. LIS detects total lightning (i.e., intracloud and cloud-to-ground) from space in a low-earth orbit (35o  inclination) and has now collected lightning measurements for 13 years (1998-2010). In this paper we present a fully revised and current total lightning climatology over the tropics. Our analysis embraces characterizing individual flashes (e.g., number of events and groups, total radiance, area footprint, etc.), generating composite climatological maps (in 0.25 and 0.10 degree resolutions), and finally computing trends for the observed total lightning during these 13 years of LIS mission. We have identified differences in the energetics of the flashes and/or the optical scattering properties of the storms cells due to cell-relative variations in microphysics and kinematics (i.e., convective or stratiform rainfall). On the climatological total lightning maps we found a dependency on the scale of analysis (resolution) in identifying the lightning maximums in the tropics. The analysis of total lightning trends observed by LIS from 1998 to 2010 in different temporal (annual and seasonal) and spatial (large and regional) scales, showed no systematic trends in the median to lower-end of the distributions, but most locations in the tropics did show a decrease in the highest total lightning flash rates (higher-end of the distributions).
%T The 13 years of TRMM Lightning Imaging Sensor: From individual flash characteristics to decadal tendencies
%@electronicmailaddress rachel.albrecht@cptec.inpe.br
%@secondarytype PRE CI
%K Lightning imaging sensor.
%8 08-12 Aug
%@usergroup lattes secretaria.cpa@dir.inpe.br
%@group DSA-CPT-INPE-MCT-BR
%@e-mailaddress rachel.albrecht@cptec.inpe.br
%3 Albrecht.pdf
%F lattes: 7258266163150929 1 AlbrechtGoPeBuBrBlCh:2011:FrInFl
%2 dpi.inpe.br/plutao/2011/09.22.18.55.22
%@affiliation Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)
%@affiliation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA/NESDIS/GSFC), Greenbelt, MD, USA
%@affiliation NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA/MSFC), Huntsville, AL, USA
%@affiliation University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH), Huntsville, AL, USA
%@affiliation Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA
%@affiliation NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA/MSFC), Huntsville, AL, USA
%@affiliation University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH), Huntsville, AL, USA
%@versiontype publisher
%4 dpi.inpe.br/plutao/2011/09.22.18.55.21
%@documentstage not transferred
%D 2011
%S Proceedings
%A Albrecht, Rachel Ifanger,
%A Goodman, Steven J.,
%A Petersen, Walt,
%A Buechler, Dennis,
%A Bruning, Eric,
%A Blakeslee, Richard J.,
%A Christian, Hugh,
%C Rio de Janeiro
%@area MET