Investigating the relationship between extreme lightning discharges and forest fires ignition using ground-based and satellite-based lightning monitoring techniques
Thesis supervisor: Tamás Bozóki
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Dept of Geophysics and Space Science, ELTE Abbreviation of location of studies: ELTE
Description of the research topic:
Lightning is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena on Earth, but it also poses a serious threat to humanity. From the aviation industry, to the operation of critical and expensive ground infrastructure (such as wind turbines), to the outdoor activity of individuals, there are many areas where the risk of lightning must be considered. This demand sustains a number of ground-based lightning detection networks around the world, which, together with satellite-based lightning monitoring, provide a comprehensive picture of the Earth's lightning activity. However, there are many applications where one needs to know not only whether a lightning stroke occurred, but also how strong it was and how long it lasted. One of the most important examples of this is the risk of natural forest fires ignition, which is nowadays becoming increasingly important due to climate change (Pérez-Invernón et al., 2023a). It is easy to see that a stronger and longer-lasting discharge is more likely to ignite a fire than an average lightning stroke (Pérez-Invernón et al., 2023b). However, at the moment, this property of lightning can only be uniquely determined using extremely low frequency (ELF; 3 Hz - 3 kHz) electromagnetic measurements (Pérez-Invernón et al., 2023b), as this information is not available from the data provided by state-of-the-art lightning detection networks. The PhD student's task would be to develop an automated procedure for the identification of these extreme lightning discharges, which information could be released in the future at the service level, and to detect long-term changes in the distribution of extreme lightning discharges by applying the developed data processing method over a longer period. On the other hand, with the involvement of national and international partners, the PhD student should investigate how the identified lightning events are related to events classified as extreme by other lightning monitoring methods (ground-based and satellite-based) and what role these events play in the initiation of natural forest fires.
Required language skills: English Number of students who can be accepted: 1
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