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Winter lightning along the East Coast
Author(s) -
Orville Richard E.
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i006p00713
Subject(s) - lightning (connector) , geology , east coast , oceanography , climatology , gulf stream , spatial distribution , west coast , flash (photography) , meteorology , geography , remote sensing , physics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , optics
More than 150,000 cloud‐to‐earth lightning flashes were recorded along the East Coast during the period 15 January–15 March 1986 in the region bounded by 25°N–40°N and 90°W–70°W. The majority of the flashes for the two month period occurred over the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream where a peak flash density of 0.7 flashes/km 2 was observed approximately 270 km from the Carolina Coast. This relatively sharp peak in the spatial distribution of lightning flashes to earth over the Gulf Stream occurs with a width at half‐maximum of approximately 130 km. In the February 1986 data, a close correlation is observed of the maximum lightning flash density contours with the maximum sea surface temperature contours.