Analysis of Lightning Characteristics in Severe Convective Weather Using Integrated Satellite–Ground Lightning Data

In this study, the integrated data from the Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) satellite lightning mapping imager (LMI), advanced time of arrival and direction system (ADTD), world wide lightning location network (WWLLN), black body temperature (TBB), radar, and explorative reactive armor (ERA5) are used to analyze three different types of strong convective process, namely, thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes in Shandong from 16:00 on August 15 to 9:00 on August 16, 2019 (all times mentioned in this article are UTC).Through the integrated application of satellite-ground lightning data, we found that the strike areas and frequencies provided by LMI, ADTD and WWLLN are basically consistent.The TBB low-value area shows good consistency with the strike area and frequency variation trend in that area.The lightning is mostly located in the echo region above 35 dBz.LMI has significant advantages in space detection as it can detect lightning in marine areas.In three different types of strong convection process, satellite-ground detected lightning often appears in the weak echo area before the strong echo moves.When both upward and downward movements coexist in the strong convection process, there will be strong lightning activity.The aforementioned research result indicates that during a severe convective weather process, the two types of lightning data detected by the satellite and the ground station exhibit strong complementarity in the spatiotemporal distribution, the multisource integrated data can offer valuable reference for predicting the changing trends of the severe convective processes.