A ten-year analysis of cloud-to-ground lightning activity over the Eastern Mediterranean region

•CG strokes are dominant over the land the warm season and over the sea the cold season.•The maximum value of lightning activity is observed in June, in the afternoon.•Forested areas present an increased potential for producing CG strokes in the summer.•The orography and the terrain slope affect the power of the mesoscale systems.•The number of CG strokes increases linearly with the CAPE value.

Lightning activity is analysed in a sector covering the Eastern Mediterranean (16–32°E, 34–46°N) for the years 2005–2014. The study is based on the use of cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning activity data retrieved from ZEUS system, operated by the National Observatory of Athens, and examines the seasonal, diurnal and spatial variability of the lightning activity. The effect of elevation, terrain slope, vegetation cover and convective available potential energy (CAPE) on the distribution of the CG lightning strokes is also investigated. Lightning is modulated by the diurnal cycle of insolation and the underlying topographic features of the region. The lightning strokes are more numerous over the mainland than over the sea. CG lightning activity is dominant over the land and the coastal areas during spring and summer while during the coldest period of the year it is dominant over the sea. The maximum value of lightning activity is observed in June and mostly in the afternoon. The orography and the terrain slope affect the distribution of lightning. During the warmest period of the year, the forested areas have an increased “lightning yield”. The number of CG lightning strokes increases with increasing CAPE and the high correlation between them indicates that CAPE values could be used as a proxy for the presence of lightning activity, at least over the eastern Mediterranean region.