Narrow Bipolar Events as indicators of thunderstorm convective strength

[1] Narrow Bipolar Events (NBEs) are impulsive in-cloud lightning discharges that are commonly detected by both ground-based and satellite-based radio-frequency sensors. In this paper, NBE flash rates are shown to be statistically correlated to cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flash rates as recorded by an array of electric-field-change sensors located in Florida. In addition, NBE source heights are found to generally increase with increasing NBE flash rates. The inference is that NBE flash rates and source heights are generally driven by the intensity/strength of the convective updraft in thunderstorms. As a consequence, NBEs represent a meteorologically important type of lightning and provide an excellent target of opportunity for future satellite-based very high frequency (VHF) global lightning monitors.

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