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Local and Statistical Maps of Lightning‐Generated Wave Power Density Estimated at the Van Allen Probes Footprints From the World‐Wide Lightning Location Network Database
Author(s) -
Ripoll J.F.,
Farges T.,
Lay E. H.,
Cunningham G. S.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl081146
Subject(s) - lightning (connector) , power (physics) , computation , meteorology , physics , computational physics , environmental science , remote sensing , computer science , geology , algorithm , quantum mechanics
We propose a new method that uses the World‐Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) to estimate both the local and the drift lightning power density at the Van Allen Probes footprints during 4.3 years (~2 × 10 8 strokes.). The ratio of the drift power density to the local power density defines a time‐resolved WWLLN‐based model of lightning‐generated wave (LGW) power density ratio, R WWLLN . R WWLLN is computed every ~34 s. This ratio multiplied by the time‐resolved LGW intensity measured by the Probes allows direct computation of pitch angle diffusion coefficients used in radiation belt codes. Statistical analysis shows the median power density ratio isR ̂ WWLLN = 0.3 − 4 over the Americas. Elsewhere,R ̂ WWLLN > 1 in general. Over oceans,R ̂ WWLLN is larger than ~10.R ̂ WWLLN varies with season,R ̂ WWLLN ~ 2.5 from winter to summer. The yearly‐medianR ̂ WWLLN decays asR ̂ WWLLN ~ 9.9 / L 0.91 . The strong geographical and temporal variation should be kept in assessing effects in space. R WWLLN > 1 suggests significant LGW effects in the inner belt.