[asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 487 Released

[Stacy Oliver]

ALMA MEMO #487 

Lightning Near Cerro Chascon 


Seiichi Sakamoto (NAOJ) and Simon J. E. Radford (NRAO) 

2004-04-23


Keywords: site testing, lightning, safety 

We present a preliminary analysis of the spatial and seasonal lightning
distribution near the Cerro

Chascon science preserve, probed with a space-borne imaging sensor and
ground-based storm detectors.

The lightning flash rate in this area is among the lowest in the world
for comparable latitudes.

Thunderstorms only occur around 5 days per year. Most observed lightning
strikes occurred far to the

east of Cerro Chascon, in Bolivia and Argentina. Lightning was detected
primarily during the summer

(December-March), particularly in the afternoon and evening (UT =
16h-1h). Morning (UT = 10h-14h)

events were rare. There seem to be two types of storms - heavy storms
from the west, and milder, but

more common, storms from the east. No significant difference was found
between the strike rates at 

Pampa La Bola and at Llano de Chajnantor. 

 

View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #487. 

http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma487/memo487.pdf

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmgr.nrao.edu/pipermail/asac/attachments/20040504/097d2442/attachment.html>