Aerosol effects on electrification and lightning discharges in a multicell thunderstorm simulated by the WRF-ELEC model

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 occurred in the metropolitan Beijing area. The results suggest th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2021-09, Vol.21 (18), p.14141-14158
Main Authors: Sun, Mengyu, Liu, Dongxia, Qie, Xiushu, Mansell, Edward R, Yair, Yoav, Fierro, Alexandre O, Yuan, Shanfeng, Chen, Zhixiong, Wang, Dongfang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosol concentrations
Aerosol effects
Aerosols
Analysis
Charging
Cloud droplets
Cold
Discharge
Doppler radar
Electrification
Graupel
Heat transfer
Ice
Ice particles
Latent heat
Latent heat release
Lightning
Lightning activity
Lightning discharges
Lightning models
Meteorological research
Numerical weather forecasting
Outdoor air quality
Simulation
Storms
Thunderstorms
Updraft
Urban areas
Weather
Weather forecasting
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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 occurred in the metropolitan Beijing area. The results suggest that under polluted conditions lightning activity is significantly enhanced during the developing and mature stages. Electrification and lightning discharges within the thunderstorm show characteristics distinguished by different aerosol conditions through microphysical processes. Elevated aerosol loading increases the cloud droplets numbers, the latent heat release, updraft and ice-phase particle number concentrations. More charges in the upper level are carried by ice particles and enhance the electrification process. A larger mean-mass radius of graupel particles further increases non-inductive charging due to more effective collisions. In the continental case where aerosol concentrations are low, less latent heat is released in the upper parts and, as a consequence, the updraft speed is weaker, leading to smaller concentrations of ice particles, lower charging rates and fewer lightning discharges.
ISSN:1680-7324
1680-7316
1680-7324
DOI:10.5194/acp-21-14141-2021