Complex feline disease mapping using a dense genotyping array

The current feline genotyping array of 63k single nucleotide polymorphisms has proven its utility within breeds, and its use has led to the identification of variants associated with Mendelian traits in purebred cats. However, compared to single gene disorders, association studies of complex diseases, especially with the inclusion of random bred cats with relatively low linkage disequilibrium, require a denser genotyping array and an increased sample size to provide statistically significant associations. Here, we undertook a multi-breed study of 1,122 cats, most of which were admitted and phenotyped for nine common complex feline diseases at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. Using a proprietary 340k single nucleotide polymorphism mapping array, we identified significant genome-wide associations with hyperthyroidism, diabetes mellitus, and eosinophilic keratoconjunctivitis. These results provide genomic locations for variant discovery and candidate gene screening for these important complex feline diseases, which are relevant not only to feline health, but also to the development of disease models for comparative studies.

3D Total Lightning Observation Network in Tokyo Metropolitan Area (Tokyo LMA)

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience deployed a lightning mapping array (LMA) in the Tokyo metropolitan area in March 2017. Called the “Tokyo LMA,” it obtains detailed three-dimensional observations of the total lightning activity (cloud-to-ground and intracloud flashes) in storms. The network initially consisted of 8 receiving stations, expanded to 12 stations in March 2018. Real-time total lightning images were first opened on the webpage in Japan. Real-time observations from the Tokyo LMA will be used in nowcasting lightning hazards and mitigating lightning disasters. Archived data will be used to develop lightning prediction techniques and a lightning climatology for the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Initial Results of Long-term Continuous Observation of Lightning Discharges by FALMA in Chinese Inland Plateau Region

We started a long-term continuous observation of lightning discharges in the Chinese inland plateau region using a fast antenna lightning mapping array (FALMA). During the first year of observation, 2019, we recorded lightning discharges on 25 days in Yinchuan city, the capital of Ningxia. Most of the lightning discharges appeared to occur in the afternoons of individual thunderstorm days in August. We studied the cloud-to-ground (CG) flash percentages, lightning discharge source spatiotemporal distributions, and preliminary breakdown (PB) process characteristics for the two thunderstorm cases that produced the most frequent lightning flashes in 2019 over a wide area. It was found that (1) CG flashes in these two thunderstorms accounted for 28.4% and 32.5% of total lightning flashes, respectively; (2) most lightning discharge sources in these two thunderstorms occurred at temperatures between 5 and −30 °C, with a peak at around −10 °C; and (3) more than 90% of well-mapped PB processes of intracloud (IC) flashes propagated downward. By overlapping the altitudes and the progression directions of the PB processes on the lightning source spatiotemporal distributions, we inferred that the main negative charge of the two storms observed in Ningxia, China, was at a height of around −15 to −25 °C (7 to 9 km) and the main positive charge was at a height of around 5 to 0 °C (2 to 4 km).

Thunderstorms in Corsica Island measured during the EXAEDRE aircraft campaign

<p>The aim of this study is to enhance our understanding about the microphysical structure of convective cloud systems and its relationships to the ambient electrical field, and to assess the capability of a model to capture the cloud electrical properties. This study relies on the EXAEDRE (EXploiting new Atmospheric Electricity Data for Research and the Environment) aircraft campaign that took place from 13 September to 8 October 2018 in Corsica Island. Eight electrified convective systems were successfully sampled during the campaign by the French Falcon 20 aircraft (e.g. RASTA Doppler cloud radar, microphysics probes, electric field mills) and ground-based platforms (Lightning Mapping Array network, Météorage operational lightning locating system and Météo-France weather radars). In this study, a multi-cell thunderstorm which developed over the complex topography of Corsica Island on 17 September 2018 was selected to investigate and to understand the physical processes linking lightning occurrence, electrification efficiency, cloud microphysics and dynamics. The detailed analysis results using the unprecedented airborne and ground-based dataset and their comparison to the numerical simulation results with a horizontal grid spacing of 1 km comprising the explicit electrical scheme CELLS (Cloud Electrification and Lightning Scheme) implemented in the cloud resolving model Meso-NH has been conducted. The key results will be presented at the conference.</p>

Optical and Radio emissions of a possible blue starter observed by ASIM and the West Texas LMA

<p>This study reports on simultaneous optical and radio observations of a possible blue starter that took place in north-west Texas in the United States in 2018.  The optical observations come from the Atmospheric-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) onboard the International Space Station [Neubert et al., 2019, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-019-0592-z] and the radio observations were from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) [Cummins and Murphy, 2009, doi: 10.1109/TEMC.2009.2023450] and the West Texas Lightning Mapping Array (WTLMA) [Chmielewski and Bruning, 2016, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025159]. It was identified by the ASIM CHU1 337 nm imager and shows a diffuse, conical emission shape reaching approximately 7 km above cloud top, characteristic of blue starters.  The ASIM CHU2 777.4 nm imager shows a simple point-source of emissions, highly contrasting the 337 nm imager observations.  The 337 and 777.4 nm photometers show four distinct pulses, the first two of which were dominated by the 337 nm emissions and also showed clear UV (180-230 nm) photometer peaks.  From the WTLMA data, which clearly mapped the negative and positive leaders (or negative recoil events) even at low altitudes, the parent storm cell exhibited what appears to be a classic tri-polar charge structure, with upper and lower positive and middle negative charge.  The blue starter occurs during what appears to be an initial ascending negative leader into the upper positive charge region, which continues to develop into a positive intracloud (IC) flash between the upper positive and middle negative charge region.  During this time, there are several small NLDN positive cloud pulses (+IC), consistent with a traditional IC flash, but these are followed by two moderately high peak current (40-50 kA) negative cloud-to-ground strokes, which appear to be misclassified by the NLDN as there were no WTLMA VHF source points at low altitudes during this time. The misclassified negative strokes are concurrent with the first blue peak from the ASIM 337 nm photometer.  We conjecture that these misclassified negative CG strokes were actually electromagnetic pulses from in-cloud (or near-cloud-top) sources, which were perhaps directly associated with the blue starter. </p>

Dancing Sprites Above a Lightning Mapping Array - an analysis of the storm and flash/sprite developments

<p>This study is a multi-instrumental analysis of a ~20-hour duration northwestern Mediterranean storm on September 21, 2019 that produced 21 sprites recorded with a video camera, of which 19 (90 %) were dancing sprites. A dancing sprite is a phenomenon in which sequences of sprites appear in succession with time intervals of no more than a few hundred milliseconds. For the most part, the individual sprites are a consequence of discrete strokes from one extended lightning flash. In this case, we find that 87.5% of the sprite sequences were triggered by distinct positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) strokes. The time between successive sprite parent (SP)+CG strokes within the same dancing sprite was between 40 and 516 ms, and the distance ranged between 2 and 87 km. The storm size and vertical development were analyzed from the infrared radiometer onboard Meteosat Second Generation satellite and the lightning activity was documented with several lightning location systems (LLS): the French LF network (Météorage), the GLD360 network operated by Vaisala company, the VHF SAETTA Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) system located in Corsica. Additionally, the vertical electric field at the time of the dancing sprites was measured with a broadband ELF vertical dipole whip antenna ~700 km away from the storm. The SAETTA LMA allows to map the SP+CG flashes in their both full extent and temporal evolution, and to infer the charge structure of the parent storm. We show that the SP+CG flashes followed a common propagation: they originated from the convective and very electrically active regions of the storm, and then escaped and extended horizontally far (tens of km) into the stratiform cloud region. Most of the sprites were triggered by +CG strokes in the stratiform region often following flash development resembling cutoff of a long negative leader. Additionally, we present a detailed analysis of two dancing sprite events in which the SP+CGs triggered new bidirectional breakdown with fast moving leaders that extended into the stratiform cloud region and resulted in new SP+CG strokes. In both events, we find in both LLS and ELF vertical electric field records, that the last sprite sequence was triggered by three almost simultaneous +CG strokes.</p>