Letter to the Editor
Intense oceanic lightning

Abstract. The electrodynamic properties of intense oceanic lightning discharges are compared to intense continental lightning discharges. Particularly intense negative lightning discharges with absolute charge moments  > 2 kC · km occur more often over the oceans than over the continents during April 1998. Intense continental lightning discharges, with negative and positive polarity, and intense positive oceanic lightning discharges primarily occur associated with mesoscale convection in the late evening. The number of intense negative oceanic lightning discharges increases in the early morning hours, probably associated with the resurgence of oceanic mesoscale convection in coastal areas. The day-to-day variability of intense negative oceanic lightning discharges exhibits a five day periodicity, possibly related to planetary waves.

Key words. Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (lightning; ocean-atmosphere interactions) – Oceanography - general (marine meteorology)