Lightning response to smoke from Amazonian fires

Orit Altaratz; Ilan Koren; Yoav Yair; Colin Price

doi:10.1029/2010GL042679

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Lightning response to smoke from Amazonian fires

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Lightning response to smoke from Amazonian fires

Orit Altaratz, Ilan Koren, Yoav Yair and Colin Price

Geophysical Research Letters, Vol.37

Apr/2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL042679

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Abstract

The effect of anthropogenic aerosols on clouds has the potential to be a key component for climate change predictions, yet is one of the least understood. It is possible that high aerosol loading can change the convection intensity and hence the electrical activity of thunderstorm clouds. Focusing on the Amazon dry season, where thousands of man-made forest fires inject smoke into the atmosphere, we studied the aerosol effects on thunderclouds. We used the ground-based World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) lightning measurements together with Aqua MODIS aerosol and cloud data to show evidence for the transition between two opposing effects of aerosols on clouds. The first is the microphysical effect which is manifested in an increase in convective intensity (and electrical activity), followed by the radiative effect that becomes dominant with the increase in aerosol loading leading to a decrease in convective intensity. Citation: Altaratz, O., I. Koren, Y. Yair, and C. Price (2010), Lightning response to smoke from Amazonian fires, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L07801, doi: 10.1029/2010GL042679.

Details

Title: Lightning response to smoke from Amazonian fires
Creators: Orit Altaratz (null)
Ilan Koren (null) - 972WIS_INST___99
Yoav Yair (null) - 972WIS_INST___77
Colin Price (null)
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol.37; Apr/2010
Number of pages: 6
Language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL042679
Grant note: Minerva Foundation [780048]O. Altaratz and I. Koren acknowledge the partial support of the Minerva Foundation (grant 780048) and of Yeda-Sela center. The authors wish to thank the World Wide Lightning Location Network (http://wwlln.net), collaboration among over 40 universities and institutions, for providing the lightning location data used in this paper._ALMAME_DELIMITER_
Record Identifier: 993262147203596

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