TITLE:
The Correlations between the Lightning Density Distribution of Sichuan Province and the Seismic Area
AUTHORS:
Xiaobing Jin, Zhongming Chen, Qiming Ma, Yiding Li, Junwei Pu
KEYWORDS:
Seismic Area; Lightning Density; Correlations; Distribution
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.4 No.2,
March
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: We here report our observations of the intense lightning events during ~15:00, 23 September to ~12:00, 24 September 2008 along the fault of Wenchuan-Beichuan counties in Sichuan Province, China where a 8.0 magnitude earthquake strike on May 12th, 2008. This intense lightning period had the highest density in all available the lightning monitoring data of Sichuan. The altered lightning pattern is unlikely to be a coincidence. We also found that the spatial-temporal characteristic of lightning in Sichuan has changed after the earthquake. We studied the correlations and analyze the data between lightning and earthquake in order to understand the seemingly unrelated events.