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The Impact Of Large Refineries On The Lightning Flash Characteristics In Brazil
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 7th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society, Oct 2001, cp-217-00360
Abstract
The impact of the four largest refineries of the southeastern<br>Brazil on the lightning flash characteristics<br>has been investigated based on a recent finding by<br>Orville and Huffines (2000) of a significant effect<br>related to urban areas of Houston and Dallas, Texas,<br>and the refineries near Lake Charles, Louisiana. They<br>found an increase in the flash density by about a factor<br>of two, which might be related to pollution<br>through an increase in the number of condensation<br>nuclei. The analysis was done to the refineries of<br>Presidente Bernardes, Henrique Lage and Paulínea, in<br>the state of São Paulo, and Duque de Caxias, in the<br>state of Rio de Janeiro, based on the lightning data<br>obtained in the last two (2000 and 2001) summer<br>seasons. It was found no significant variation in the<br>total flash density in the regions near the refineries.<br>The same was found for flash peak current and percentage<br>of positive flashes. However, comparing the<br>flashes that occurred in a circular region centered in<br>the refineries with a radius of 10 km with those in a<br>the region delimited by the radii of 10 km and 20 km<br>from the refineries, it was found a small increase in<br>the flash density (from 1.54 to 2.02<br>flashes/km*2.month) and in the percentage of positive<br>flashes (from 2.7 to 3.6%). Even in this case, no<br>effect was apparent in the flash peak current.