Electrical activity associated with hurricane otto (2016) in the caribbean sea and in the central American dry corridor

Abstract

Otto (2016) is the first hurricane in the documented tropical cyclone history to have directly reached Costa Rica. This work analyses the electrical discharges (ED) associated with Otto in November 2016 during its trajectory from the Caribbean to the Pacific, using data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network; which constitutes a pioneering research in the Central America region. Otto ED captured very well Ottoös intensification and degradation phases, which as a variable could be parametrized in numerical models to improve the knowledge and evolution of these systems. Otto presented three ED peaks during each one of the categories it attained; the last one during hurricane category 3 (Saffir-Simpson scale) just prior to make landfall between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The region with most ED moved from the near center of the system to its external region in pace with the hurricane intensification. When Otto reached category 3, the maxima of ED was observed in Otto’s external bands (250-300 km). During Otto’s evolution ED maximum were observed to be related to cloud top temperatures of less than -70 °C.