A survey of thunderstorm flash rates compared to cloud top height using TRMM satellite data

The relationship between cloud height and lightning activity is examined us ing data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Coi ncident data from the precipitation radar (PR) and Lightning Imaging Sensor aboard the TRMM satellite are used to examine whether lightning flash rate is proportional to the fifth power of cloud top height. This study is uniq ue in that (1) the relationship between instantaneous rather than maximum s torm height and flash rate is obtained and (2) relatively unbiased full dat a sets for different locations and seasons over the globe are used. The rel ationship between thunderstorm height and flash rate is nonlinear with larg e variance. The overall trend shows that flash rate increases exponentially with storm height. Some tall thunderstorms do not have large flash rates, but the reverse situation never occurs. The fifth power dependency that is derived from scaling laws is not inconsistent with, but not necessarily req uired by, the observed data.