Small ice crystals and the climatology of lightning

Summary, in English

[1] Vigorous debate still surrounds the cloud electrification process and unexplained regional variations in lightning activity. Here, we show that climatological maxima in lightning activity are associated with small effective diameter D-e of ice crystals near cumulonimbus cloud tops. This relationship, unlike lightning's more well-known relationship with cloud top height, is consistent over land and ocean. Since multiple studies indicate that D-e is reduced by atmospheric aerosol, this relationship strengthens previous suggestions of a role for aerosols as well as dynamics in electrification. Moreover, the angular distribution of backscattered radiance shows that modest (similar to 10%) D-e decreases reflect large (similar to 2x) increases in the number of small (< similar to 30 mu m) particles N, a finding supported by cloud model simulations. Both relationships provide an important new test of cloud microphysics and/or electrification models.

• Author: SC Sherwood; Vaughan Phillips; JS Wettlaufer
• Publishing year: 2006
• Language: English
• Pages: 05804-05804
• Publication/Series: Geophysical Research Letters
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 5
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025242
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Topic: Physical Geography
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1944-8007