Lightning enhancement over major oceanic shipping lanes

• Published in: Geophysical research letters 2017-09, Vol.44 (17), p.9102-9111
• Main Authors: Thornton, Joel A., Virts, Katrina S., Holzworth, Robert H., Mitchell, Todd P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosol particles; Aerosols; Air pollution; Airborne particulates; Anthropogenic factors; CCN; Climatology; Cloud formation; Cloud microphysics; Clouds; Convection; Crystals; Drop formation; Electrification; Exhaust emissions; Freezing; Graupel; High altitude; Hoisting; Human influences; Ice; Ice crystals; Interactions; Lifting; Lightning; Lightning location; Marine transportation; Microphysics; Nuclei; Nucleus; Oceans; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Paths; Shipping; Shipping lanes; Ships; Storms; Suspended particulate matter; Temperature structure; Traffic flow; Water pollution; Wind; Winds; WWLLN
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1002/2017GL074982

Using 12 years of high‐resolution global lightning stroke data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), we show that lightning density is enhanced by up to a factor of 2 directly over shipping lanes in the northeastern Indian Ocean and the South China Sea as compared to adjacent areas with similar climatological characteristics. The lightning enhancement is most prominent during the convectively active season, November–April for the Indian Ocean and April–December in the South China Sea, and has been detectable from at least 2005 to the present. We hypothesize that emissions of aerosol particles and precursors by maritime vessel traffic lead to a microphysical enhancement of convection and storm electrification in the region of the shipping lanes. These persistent localized anthropogenic perturbations to otherwise clean regions are a unique opportunity to more thoroughly understand the sensitivity of maritime deep convection and lightning to aerosol particles. Plain Language Summary Lightning results from strong storms lifting cloud drops up to high altitudes where freezing occurs and collisions between drops, graupel, and ice crystals lead to electrification. Thus, lightning is an indicator of storm intensity and sensitive to the microphysics of cloud drop formation, interactions, and freezing. We find that lightning is nearly twice as frequent directly over two of the world's busiest shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The lightning enhancement maximizes along the same angular paths ships take along these routes and cannot be explained by meteorological factors, such as winds or the temperature structure of the atmosphere. We conclude that the lightning enhancement stems from aerosol particles emitted in the engine exhaust of ships traveling along these routes. These particles act as the nuclei on which cloud drops form and can change the vertical development of storms, allowing more cloud water to be transported to high altitudes, where electrification of the storm occurs to produce lightning. These shipping lanes are thus an ongoing experiment on how human activities that lead to airborne particulate matter pollution can perturb storm intensity and lightning. Key Points Lightning is enhanced by about a factor of 2 directly over two of the busiest shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea Environmental factors such as convergence, sea surface temperature, or atmospheric stability do not explain the enh