Thunderstorms and the lightning that they produce are inherently interesting phenomena that have intrigued scientists and mankind in general for many years. The study of thunderstorms has rapidly advanced during the past century and many efforts have been made towards understanding lightning, thunderstorms and their consequences. Recent observations of optical phenomena above an active lightning discharge along with the availability of modern technology both for data collection and data analysis have renewed interest in the field of thunderstorms and their consequences in the biosphere. In this paper, we review the electrification processes of a thunderstorm, lightning processes and their association with global electric circuit and climate. The upward lightning discharge can cause sprites, elves, jets, etc. which are together called transient luminous events. Their morphological features and effects in the mesosphere are reviewed. The wide spectrum of electromagnetic waves generated during lightning discharges couple the lower atmosphere with the ionosphere/magnetosphere. Hence various features of these waves from ULF to VHF are reviewed with reference to recent results and their consequences are also briefly discussed.
Deep Dive into Thunderstorms, lightning, sprites and magnetospheric whistler-mode radio waves.
Thunderstorms and the lightning that they produce are inherently interesting phenomena that have intrigued scientists and mankind in general for many years. The study of thunderstorms has rapidly advanced during the past century and many efforts have been made towards understanding lightning, thunderstorms and their consequences. Recent observations of optical phenomena above an active lightning discharge along with the availability of modern technology both for data collection and data analysis have renewed interest in the field of thunderstorms and their consequences in the biosphere. In this paper, we review the electrification processes of a thunderstorm, lightning processes and their association with global electric circuit and climate. The upward lightning discharge can cause sprites, elves, jets, etc. which are together called transient luminous events. Their morphological features and effects in the mesosphere are reviewed. The wide spectrum of electromagnetic waves generated d
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Thunderstorms, lightning, sprites and magnetospheric
whistler-mode radio waves
Devendraa Siingh1, A.K. Singh2*, R.P. Patel2, Rajesh Singh3, R.P. Singh2,4, B.
Veenadhari3 and M. Mukherjee1
1Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune-411 008, India.
2Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi- 221 005, India.
3 Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, New Panvel, Navi Mumbai-410218, India.
4 Vice-Chancellor, Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara-802301 (Bihar), India.
Abstract:
Thunderstorms and the lightning that they produce are inherently interesting phenomena
that have intrigued scientists and mankind in general for many years. The study of
thunderstorms has rapidly advanced during the past century and many efforts have been
made towards understanding lightning, thunderstorms and their consequences. Recent
observations of optical phenomena above an active lightning discharge along with the
availability of modern technology both for data collection and data analysis have renewed
interest in the field of thunderstorms and their consequences in the biosphere. In this
paper, we review the electrification processes of a thunderstorm, lightning processes and
their association with global electric circuit and climate. The upward lightning discharge
can cause sprites, elves, jets, etc. which are together called transient luminous events.
Their morphological features and effects in the mesosphere are reviewed. The wide
spectrum of electromagnetic waves generated during lightning discharges couple the
lower atmosphere with the ionosphere/magnetosphere. Hence various features of these
waves from ULF to VHF are reviewed with reference to recent results and their
consequences are also briefly discussed.
Key words: Thunderstorm/lightning, Global electric circuit and climate, Sferics,
Transient Luminous Events, Schumann resonances, Whistler-mode waves, ELF/VLF
emissions.
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- Introduction
A thunderstorm is characterized by strong winds in the form of squall, heavy
precipitation and low level wind shear. The formation, intensification and propagation of
thunderstorms are mostly governed by the synoptic and thermodynamic conditions of the
atmosphere; their microphysical and electrical characteristics are known to affect
significantly the formation and the intensity of precipitation. Thunderstorms are the
deepest convective clouds caused by buoyancy forces set up initially by the solar heating
of the Earth’s surface. Several field and laboratory experiments have been conducted to
determine the electrical nature of storms and possible electrification processes are being
studied in the laboratory and also through theoretical modeling and computer simulations
(Rycroft et al., 2007; Yair, 2008; Saunders, 2008, and references therein). Various
research programmes such as the Thunderstorm Research International Programme
(TRIP), the Down Under Doppler and Electricity Experiment (DUNDEE) (Rutledge et
al., 1992), the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS)
(Lang et al., 2004) have been launched involving both ground and airborne measurements
to study the electrical properties of thunderstorms and related phenomena.
The most fascinating aspect is lightning associated with thunderstorms whose
strength and location can be assessed by a number of techniques such as those involving
electrostatic, electromagnetic, acoustic, radar, and radio-frequency measurements.
Electrostatic field/field-change measurements at multiple stations have the particular
advantage of giving information about the electrical charge centers and their structure and
movements in a thunderstorm (Krehbiel et al., 1979; Jacobson and Krider, 1976; Krehbiel
et al., 2008). Usually electrified thunderstorms are modeled to have a dominant tripolar
electrical structure, consisting of a negative charge in the middle and positive charges at
the lower and the upper levels of the cloud, along with a negative screening charge layer
at the upper boundary (Williams, 1989). However, the problem of determining the charge
structure of storms from remote measurements of total electric field has some limitations,
e.g. due to the vertical variation of conductivity and subsequent masking of upper
charges. These problems are somewhat alleviated by measuring the time rate of change of
electric fields, which forms the basis for measurements of the Maxwell currents (Krider
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and Musser, 1982). Such measurements can be used, in principle, to locate and quantify
the different currents of the storm.
Thunderstorms exhibit cloud (including intra-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-
air), cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-
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