Assessment of Lightning Ground Flash Density in the Niger Delta

Abstract

The two important ingredients for thunderstorm formations are instability air mass (unstable air mass) and moisture. Apart from these conditions that favor the formation of thunderstorms in the area, several local conditions prevail due to the unstable air mass movement on rivers and seas to land mass. The influence of the ocean current in lightning formation is visible with incident, occurring along the coastlines. All these factors contribute to the high keraunic level of the coastal area in the Niger Delta. Twenty-two study areas were selected in the seven states of the Niger Delta. The meteorological data collected for the analysis is within 2005-2014 especially for the thunderstorm days. Some of the data were available in the Federal ministry of Aviation, and also from the aviation department of some oil companies in the area. The average cloud to ground flash was worked out and the ground flash density was calculated. Some influence of climatic effect on lightning frequency and distributions were observed and it was seen that the intensity of lightning activities varied as the area goes out of the delta coast.

Keywords — Keraunic level, Meteorological data, Ground flash density, Inter Tropical

Discontinuity.