Atmospheric electricity
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The European lightning location system EUCLID – Part 2: Observations Open
Cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning data from the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection (EUCLID) network over the period 2006–2014 are explored. Mean CG flash densities vary over the European continent, with the highest density of about …
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Fair weather criteria for atmospheric electricity measurements Open
The global atmospheric electric circuit, which links the space environment with terrestrial weather, has mostly been investigated using fair-weather surface atmospheric electricity measurements. Retrieving global circuit information, howev…
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Relation of the double‐ITCZ bias to the atmospheric energy budget in climate models Open
We examine how tropical zonal mean precipitation biases in current climate models relate to the atmospheric energy budget. Both hemispherically symmetric and antisymmetric tropical precipitation biases contribute to the well‐known double‐I…
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Comparison of Six Lightning Parameterizations in CAM5 and the Impact on Global Atmospheric Chemistry Open
We present simulations performed with six lightning parameterizations implemented in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5). The amount of lightning‐produced nitrogen oxides (LNO x ) by the various schemes considered is estimated. We provid…
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A Review on Electrodynamic Influence of Atmospheric Processes to the Ionosphere Open
This work is an attempt to critically analyze the existing theoretical models of the impact of earthquake preparation processes on the state of the earth's atmosphere and ionosphere in the zone of growing seismic activity, as well as the m…
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Feedback of Atmosphere‐Ocean Coupling on Shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone Open
It is well known that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) shifts in response to remote perturbations in the atmospheric energy balance, with shifts roughly in proportion to changes in the cross‐equatorial atmospheric energy flux. How…
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Toward Consistent Diagnostics of the Coupled Atmosphere and Ocean Energy Budgets Open
The widely used diagnostic vertically integrated total energy budget equations of atmosphere and ocean contain inconsistencies that should no longer be disregarded. The neglect of enthalpy fluxes associated with precipitation and evaporati…
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Stratiform cloud electrification: comparison of theory with multiple in‐cloud measurements Open
Stratiform clouds constitute ∼40% of global cloud cover and play a key role in determining the planetary radiation budget. Electrification remains one of the least understood effects on their microphysical processes. Droplet charging at th…
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Probing Atmospheric Electric Fields in Thunderstorms through Radio Emission from Cosmic-Ray-Induced Air Showers Open
We present measurements of radio emission from cosmic ray air showers that took place during thunderstorms. The intensity and polarization patterns of these air showers are radically different from those measured during fair-weather condit…
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An overview of the lightning and atmospheric electricity observations collected in southern France during the HYdrological cycle in Mediterranean EXperiment (HyMeX), Special Observation Period 1 Open
The PEACH project (Projet en Electricité Atmosphérique pour la Campagne HyMeX – the Atmospheric Electricity Project of the HyMeX Program) is the atmospheric electricity component of the Hydrology cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMe…
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A review of the impact of transient luminous events on the atmospheric chemistry: Past, present, and future Open
Atmospheric electricity has been intensively studied during the last 30 years after the discovery in 1989 of different forms of upper atmospheric electrical discharges (so–called Transient Luminous Events) triggered by lightning in the tro…
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On the microphysical effects of observed cloud edge charging Open
Liquid layer clouds are abundant globally. Lacking strong convection, they do not become electrified by the usual thunderstorm mechanisms of collisional electrification between hydrometeors of different phases. Instead, the background glob…
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What we can learn from measurements of air electric conductivity in <sup>222</sup>Rn‐rich atmosphere Open
Electric conductivity of air is an important characteristic of the electric properties of an atmosphere. Testing instruments to measure electric conductivity ranging from ~10 −13 to 10 −9 S m −1 in natural conditions found in the Earth atm…
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AC and DC global electric circuit properties and the height profile of atmospheric conductivity Open
An apparent discrepancy is pointed out - at all heights, and by up to an order of magnitude - between the height profiles of atmospheric conductivity derived at AC using ELF propagation studies, especially from information on Schumann reso…
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The electrical activity of Saharan dust as perceived from surface electric field observations Open
We report on the electric field variations during Saharan dust advection over two atmospheric remote stations in Greece, using synergistic observations of the vertical atmospheric electric field strength (Ez) at ground level and the lidar-…
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Assessing and improving cloud-height-based parameterisations of global lightning flash rate, and their impact on lightning-produced NO <sub> <i>x</i> </sub> and tropospheric composition in a chemistry–climate model Open
Although lightning-generated oxides of nitrogen (LNOx) account for only approximately 10 % of the global NOx source, they have a disproportionately large impact on tropospheric photochemistry due to the conducive conditions in the tropical…
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Aerosol effects on electrification and lightning discharges in a multicell thunderstorm simulated by the WRF-ELEC model Open
To investigate the effects of aerosols on lightning activity, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model with a two-moment bulk microphysical scheme and bulk lightning model was employed to simulate a multicell thunderstorm that occu…
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Unusually high frequency natural VLF radio emissions observed during daytime in Northern Finland Open
Geomagnetic field variations and electromagnetic waves of different frequencies are ever present in the Earth’s environment in which the Earth’s fauna and flora have evolved and live. These waves are a very useful tool for studying and exp…
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Mathematical Simulation of the Ionospheric Electric Field as a Part of the Global Electric Circuit Open
Electric currents flowing in the Global Electric Circuit are closed by ionospheric currents. A model for the distribution of the ionospheric potential which drives these currents is constructed. Only the internal electric fields and curren…
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Multiple Environmental Influences on the Lightning of Cold-Based Continental Cumulonimbus Clouds. Part I: Description and Validation of Model Open
In this two-part paper, influences from environmental factors on lightning in a convective storm are assessed with a model. In Part I, an electrical component is described and applied in the Aerosol–Cloud model (AC). AC treats many types o…
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A global electric circuit model within a community climate model Open
To determine the complex dependencies of currents and electric fields within the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) on the underlying physics of the atmosphere, a new modeling framework of the GEC has been developed for use within global circul…
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Natural Sources of Ionization and Their Impact on Atmospheric Electricity Open
We present a study of atmospheric electricity using the chemistry‐climate model SOCOL considering ionization by solar energetic particles during an extreme solar proton event (SPE), galactic cosmic rays (GCR), and terrestrial radon (Rn‐222…
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Lightning NO <sub>2</sub> simulation over the contiguous US and its effects on satellite NO <sub>2</sub> retrievals Open
Lightning is an important NOx source representing ∼10 % of the global source of odd N and a much larger percentage in the upper troposphere. The poor understanding of spatial and temporal patterns of lightning contributes to a large uncert…
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A Global LIS/OTD Climatology of Lightning Flash Extent Density Open
Previous lightning climatologies derived from Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and Optical Transient Detector (OTD) total lightning measurements have quantified lightning frequency as a Flash Rate Density (FRD). This approach assumes that li…
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Lightning activity in the Mediterranean: quantification of cyclones contribution and relation to their intensity Open
A 10‐year data set of intense Mediterranean cyclones was used for a twofold objective: first to quantify the cyclone's contribution to lightning occurrence in the region and second to investigate potential connection of lightning with cycl…
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Solar Effects on the Atmospheric Electric Field During 2010–2015 at Low Latitudes Open
Solar phenomena such as flares and solar energetic particles events are potential candidates to affect the global atmospheric electric circuit. One can study these effects using measurements of the atmospheric electric field in fair weathe…
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Quantification of the effect of modeled lightning NO <sub>2</sub> on UV–visible air mass factors Open
Space-borne measurements of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns are up to 10x more sensitive to upper tropospheric (UT) NO2 than near-surface NO2 over low-reflectivity surfaces. Here, we quantify the effect of adding simulated ligh…
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Characterizing Charge Structure in Central Argentina Thunderstorms During RELAMPAGO Utilizing a New Charge Layer Polarity Identification Method Open
A new automated method to retrieve charge layer polarity from flashes, named Chargepol, is presented in this paper. Using data from the NASA Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) deployed during the Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, An…
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Electrical sensing of the dynamical structure of the planetary boundary layer Open
Turbulent and convective processes within the planetary boundary layer are responsible for the transport of moisture, momentum and particulate matter, but are also important in determining the electrical charge transport of the lower atmos…
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A Fossilized Energy Distribution of Lightning Open
When lightning strikes soil, it may generate a cylindrical tube of glass known as a fulgurite. The morphology of a fulgurite is ultimately a consequence of the energy of the lightning strike that formed it and hence fulgurites may be usefu…