Meteorological and Lightning Characteristics of Thunderstorms Producing Transient Luminous Events

After more than three decades of research on transient luminous events (TLEs), typical electrical and dynamical properties of the thunderstorms responsible for their production are still not completely understood. The reliability of prediction when and where TLEs occur is very limited, as numerous case studies focus only on individual TLE-producing storms.

To contribute to these efforts, we analyze 34 TLE-producing storms observed between 2018 and 2020 in Central Europe, each generating at least ten TLEs, specifically sprites and halos. Using products from the Nowcasting and Very Short Range Forecasting Satellite Application Facility (NWC SAF), we follow the full life cycle of each storm, from initiation to dissipation, defining storm boundaries by the presence of very high opaque clouds. Lightning activity and its temporal evolution are derived from LINET lightning detections within the identified storm boundaries. Cloud-top temperature and cloud-top height products are used to relate TLE occurrences to the convective structure of the storm. Statistical distributions of these parameters are compiled at TLE locations.

We show that TLEs statistically appear after the peak of cloud-to-ground lightning activity and at preferred locations relative to storm evolution. Rather than being distributed uniformly over the storm, TLEs are spatially confined to relatively small regions, forming clusters with typical horizontal dimensions of approximately 0.5° × 0.5° in geographic lat–lon coordinates. These regions exhibit persistence in time, as repeated TLE occurrences are frequently observed within the same localized areas of the storm, separated by up to several tens of minutes. Such preferred regions are most commonly located near the convective core, within the stratiform region, and above areas of former convective activity. Additionally, we classify the analyzed storms by area and morphological characteristics, providing insight into the storm structures most favorable for TLE production.