Characteristics of cloud-to-ground lightning activity over Seoul, South Korea in relation to an urban effect

Cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flash data collected by the lightning detection network installed at the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) have been used to study the urban effect on lightning activity over and around Seoul, the largest metropolitan city of South Korea, for the period of 1989–1999. Negative and positive flash density and the percentage of positive flashes have been calculated. Calculation reveals that an enhancement of approximately 60% and 42% are observed, respectively, for negative and positive flash density over and downwind of the city. The percentage decrease of positive flashes occurs over and downwind of Seoul and the amount of decrease is nearly 20% compared to upwind values. The results are in good agreement with those obtained by Steiger et al. (2002) and Westcott (1995). CG lightning activities have also been considered in relation to annual averages of PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10μm) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentrations. Interesting results are found, indicating that the higher concentration of SO2 contributes to the enhancement of CG lightning flashes. On the other hand, the contribution from PM10 concentration has not appeared in this study to be as significant as SO2 in the enhancement of CG lightning flashes. Correlation coefficients of 0.33 and 0.64 are found between the change in CG lightning flashes and the PM10 and SO2, respectively, for upwind to downwind areas, suggesting a significant influence of the increased concentration of SO2 on the enhancement of CG flashes.