Preliminary analysis of the intensity of lightning in industrial zones of Mariel, Havana and Matanzas

Abstract

At present, the study of lightning in has gained great interest in Cuba. Hence, in the present investigation, a preliminary analysis of the intensity of lightning is carried out, in the period 2018-2022 in industrial zones of great interest corresponding to the Havana-Artemisa-Mayabeque region. The objective of the work was to determine the behavior of the intensity, as well as its relationship with the conductivity that can be generated by the concentrations of aerosols near the surface. For the development of work, lightning data obtained from the Earth Network discharge receiving station, located in Casablanca, Havana, were used. PM 2.5 and CO2 particle data from measurements made at these facilities were also used. For data processing, programming algorithms in C++ were used, as well as the Pearson correlation between intensity and concentration of pollutants was determined. The analysis of the results allowed determining a growing trend of the days with storms in the months of January, April and November for the dry season, whiling July, August and October for the rainy season. In the case of intensity, the months of June, July, August and September were the ones that showed the greatest intensity with values ​​that ranged between 45 and 135 kA. A certain correlation was observed between aerosols, specifically PM2.5 particles, and CO2 concentrations, in the study region, especially in the months that showed an increasing trend in lightning.