The Study on the Relationship of Spatiotemporal Configuration Between Lightning Activity and ZDR/KDP Columns in Squall Lines over South China

This study analyzed the relationship of spatiotemporal configuration between lightning activity and ZDR/KDP columns during two squall lines over Guangzhou on May 4 and May 8, 2017. The observations were provided by the S-band dual-polarization radar and Low-Frequency Electric Field Detection Array. The results show that:1) during the early stage of lightning activity (The IC lightning frequency is less than 50 per 6 minutes, and the CG lightning frequency is less than 10 per 6 minutes), the IC lightning and CG lightning mainly occur within the plane spatial coverage of ZDR/KDP columns, and IC lightning tend to occur within the area of KDP columns (the maximum of percentage can exceed 40%). With the more severely lightning, IC lightning and CG lightning activities mainly occur outside the planar coverage of the ZDR/KDP columns; 2) the change of ZDR/KDP column volume can lead the trend of the IC lightning and CG lightning activity about 30 minutes, and the correlation coefficient can approach or exceed 0.9. In addition, the peak of ZDR column volume can forecast the occurrence of IC lightning and CG lightning peak. The results of this study have important scientific significance for understanding the relationship between lightning activity and dynamic structure in the complex mesoscale weather systems, and can also provide new perspectives for early warning and forecasting of lightning activity via dual-polarization weather radar data.