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Lightning enhancement over major oceanic shipping lanes
Author(s) -
Thornton Joel A.,
Virts Katrina S.,
Holzworth Robert H.,
Mitchell Todd P.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl074982
Subject(s) - lightning (connector) , environmental science , meteorology , storm , electrification , aerosol , convection , upper atmospheric lightning , climatology , oceanography , lightning strike , geology , thunderstorm , geography , power (physics) , electricity , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , electrical engineering
Using 12 years of high‐resolution global lightning stroke data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), we show that lightning density is enhanced by up to a factor of 2 directly over shipping lanes in the northeastern Indian Ocean and the South China Sea as compared to adjacent areas with similar climatological characteristics. The lightning enhancement is most prominent during the convectively active season, November–April for the Indian Ocean and April–December in the South China Sea, and has been detectable from at least 2005 to the present. We hypothesize that emissions of aerosol particles and precursors by maritime vessel traffic lead to a microphysical enhancement of convection and storm electrification in the region of the shipping lanes. These persistent localized anthropogenic perturbations to otherwise clean regions are a unique opportunity to more thoroughly understand the sensitivity of maritime deep convection and lightning to aerosol particles.