Enhanced Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning in Thunderstorms Ingesting Smoke from Fires
- 2 October 1998
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 282 (5386) , 77-80
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5386.77
Abstract
Smoke from forest fires in southern Mexico was advected into the U.S. southern plains from April to June 1998. Cloud-to-ground lightning (CG) flash data from the National Lightning Detection Network matched against satellite-mapped aerosol plumes imply that thunderstorms forming in smoke-contaminated air masses generated large amounts of lightning with positive polarity (+CGs). During 2 months, nearly half a million flashes in the southern plains exhibited +CG percentages that were triple the climatological norm. The peak currents in these +CGs were double the expected value. These thunderstorms also produced abnormally high numbers of mesospheric optical sprites.Keywords
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