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Diem 2006
Diem, J.E. (2006). Anomalous monsoonal activity in central Arizona, USA. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2006GL027259. issn: 0094-8276.

Published research has suggested that urban and agricultural activities in central Arizona may be enhancing monsoonal precipitation in the region; therefore, this study employed cloud-to-ground lightning data and topographic data to reveal spatially anomalous zones of lightning activity in central Arizona. A multiple linear regression model with topographic variables as predictors explained 85% of the variance in gridded lightning-flash counts. Clustering of large positive residuals of lightning flashes existed between 40 km and 100 km north/northeast of urbanized Phoenix. Observed lightning flashes in this zone were ~40% more frequent than lightning flashes predicted by the model. Two plausible causes of the enhanced lightning activity are intensified convective storms due to Phoenix-derived water vapor and altered microphysical processes in storm clouds due to Phoenix-derived atmospheric pollution. It is possible that the positive-anomaly zone also had enhanced rainfall.

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Abstract

Keywords
Atmospheric Processes, Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 1843), Atmospheric Processes, Lightning, Mineralogy and Petrology, Ultra-high pressure metamorphism, Atmospheric Processes, Instruments and techniques, Atmospheric Processes, General or miscellaneous
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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