Spatial Vulnerability Assessment and Diurnal Climatology of Lightning Events in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The research probes into the seven agro climatic zones in Tamil Nadu which are highly vulnerable to lightning strikes, as well as the human fatalities caused by Cloud to Ground lightning. The purpose of the study is to find out the vulnerable hotspots and diurnal climatology of the Cloud to Ground lightning strikes during the northeast monsoon, southwest monsoon, and summer seasons. Heat maps are used for the lightning strikes using ArcGIS software and the diurnal climatology was performed by interpolating the data from the lightning location network into a 3-hour resolution. In vulnerability analysis, Northeastern zone is more prone to lightning during Southwest and Northeast Monsoon. On the other hand, High rainfall zone and Hilly zone are vulnerable to lightning in summer season. The Northeast monsoon has the highest lightning frequency ratio, followed by the summer. The maximum rate of strikes occurred between 10-15 hrs IST and showed a peak range between 10:00 to 12:00 hrs IST. A labor-intensive agricultural economy is linked to higher rates of lightning-related deaths and injuries. The results of this research could be useful in developing lightning climatology for the future climatic condition for Tamil Nadu.