Lightning association with aerosol and relative humidity over Andhra Pradesh and adjacent area in southeast India: A general prospection

Abstract The association of lightning yield per vertical column aerosol of unit cross section (AOD) with relative humidity and rainfall has been investigated using surface observation as well as satellite data for the south-east Indian peninsula, especially Hyderabad and adjacent areas, from 2019–2022. For the healthy finding, the study domain area has been separated into three sub-regions: Region R1 (Lat: 17.7–19.5; Lon: 78.5–84.5); R2 (Lat: 15.1–17.5; Lon: 76–80.1); and R3 (Lat: 12.5–15; Lon: 76–80.1). During the investigation, a non-homogeneous relationship between aerosol and lightning has been found, which increases with decreasing latitude (moving towards the south). It has also been found that the yield of lightning per AOD, cloud per AOD, and rainfall increases when relative humidity increases. However, lightning per AOD is non-linearly associated with humidity during the rain. Most of the clouds in region R2 have lightning, with or without rain. A regression equation has been investigated that successfully captures the lightning that occurred in the regions R1 and R2.