Lightning and climate: A review

Atmospheric Research 76 (2005) 272–287

www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos

Lightning and climate: A review

E.R. Williams*

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Received 13 November 2003; accepted 23 September 2004

Abstract

Research on regional and global lightning activity and the global electrical circuit is summarized.

This area of activity has greatly expanded through observations of lightning by satellite and through

increased use of the natural (Schumann) resonances of the Earth–ionosphere cavity. The global

electrical circuit provides a natural framework for monitoring global change on many time scales.

Lightning is responsive to temperature on many time scales, but the sensitivity to temperature

appears to diminish at the longer time scales.

D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Lightning; Climate; Global change; Global circuit; Schumann resonances

1. Introduction

The importance of lightning for climate studies is increasingly recognized. Thunder-

storms are major players in the global redistribution of water substance, a key mediator of

both short and long wavelength radiation. The cloud buoyancy that drives vertical motion

in electrified convection results from a temperature differential of the order of 1 8C.Temperature perturbations of this order have appreciable local effects in the highly

nonlinear process of cloud electrification. Temperature perturbations of this order are also

clearly important in the context of global warming. The global circuit framework has been

in place for decades but the ability to measure it reliably had developed only recently. New

0169-8095/$ -

doi:10.1016/j.a

4 Tel.: +1 78

E-mail add

see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

tmosres.2004.11.014

1981 3744; fax: +1 78 1981 0632.

ress: [email protected].

E.R. Williams / Atmospheric Research 76 (2005) 272–287 273

measurements of global lightning from the ground and from space have greatly stimulated

the application and integration of lightning in climate studies.

Areas treated in this review include the relationship between lightning and rainfall in

the general circulation of the atmosphere, the manifestation of tropical bchimneysQ in the

lightning activity, the dependence of lightning activity on temperature, the candidacy of

thunderstorms and lightning as climate bextremesQ, the connection between lightning and

upper tropospheric water vapor, the increasingly investigated role of aerosol in

precipitation and electrification processes, the regional climatology of lightning, and

finally the issue of long-term variations.

2. Lightning and the general circulation of the atmosphere

Lightning is to the global electrical circuit as rainfall is to the general circulation. The

global distributions of these two quantities are substantially different. Lightning and

rainfall are products of the convective elements that energize the respective global

systems. TRMM satellite observations (Christian et al., 2003; Goodman, pers. comm.,

2003) now provide global maps of these two quantities and they show distinct differences,

as shown in Fig. 1. Lightning is dramatically dominated by land areas in the tropics

(Orville and Henderson, 1986; Zipser, 1994; Latham and Christian, 1998; Williams and

Fig. 1. Global lightning activity (top) based on observations with the Lightning Imaging Sensor and global rainfall

(bottom) based on observations with the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) (courtesy of S. Goodman,

NASA MSFC).

E.R. Williams / Atmospheric Research 76 (2005) 272–287274

Stanfill, 2002), with the three dchimneyT regions dominating the Walker circulation. In

contrast, rainfall is zonally uniform in the upwelling portion of the Hadley circulation.

These global contrasts emphasize key differences between the traditional dhot towersT ofthe tropical ITCZ (Riehl and Malkus, 1958) and the continental thunderstorms. The most

important difference is the updraft speed (Lemone and Zipser, 1980; Jorgenson and

Lemone, 1994; Lucas et al., 1994; Williams and Stanfill, 2002). Rainfall production and

lightning activity have quite different dependencies on updraft speed. Only modest lifting

is necessary for rainfall and the tropical upwelling is associated with moderate updrafts

over large areas. Stronger, deeper lifting is needed for lightning, with a strong dependence

of lightning flash rate on updraft speed (Baker et al., 1995, 1999; Boccippio, 2001).

Continental updrafts are stronger than oceanic ones but over a smaller total area.

The paucity of lightning found in the heavy rainfall over tropical oceans is indirect

evidence that the global circuit will not be strongly coupled with the Hadley circulation.

The abundance of lightning over land where high altitude cirrus production is most

prevalent (Kent et al., 1995) is indirect evidence that the Walker circulation will be

coupled with the global circuit.

3. The tropical chimneys

Satellite observations of lightning and rainfall have lent new scrutiny to the three

tropical dchimneyT regions that are well-recognized contributors to the global circuit

(Whipple, 1929). The ranking of these regions in lightning (Boccippio et al., 2000;

Christian et al., 2003; Williams and Satori, 2004) and rainfall now clearly indicate that

Africa is the most continental chimney (most lightning, least rainfall), the Maritime

Continent (Petersen et al., 1996) is the most maritime (most rainfall, least lightning), with

the South American continent as intermediate. South America is also strongly maritime

during the westerly wind regime of the wet season there, as documented by numerous

results in the NASA TRMM LBA program in 1999 (Cifeli et al., 2002; Petersen et al.,

2002; Halverson et al., 2002; Williams et al., 2002), and has been dubbed the dgreenoceanT for that reason.

Evidence has long shown that South America dominates the ionospheric potential and

the DC global circuit (Whipple, 1929; Markson, 2003), whereas Africa is predominant in

lightning alone (Brooks, 1925; Christian et al., 2003) and therefore the AC global circuit

(Schumann resonances). Africa also appears to dominate in vigorous mesoscale

convective systems (MCS) (Toracinta and Zipser, 2001), in the energetic positive ground

flashes, which continental MCSs are known to produce (Armstrong, 2000; Patel, 2001;

Lyons et al., 2003), and the sprites caused by the positive ground flashes (Fullekrug and

Price, 2002).

The reasons for Africa’s strongly continental character and lightning dominance have

been attributed to surface characteristics (Williams and Stanfill, 2002; Williams and Satori,

2004) and to the effects of aerosol (McCollum et al., 2000; Rosenfeld, pers. comm., 2001;

Christian et al., 2003). A drier surface allows for the development of a deeper reservoir of

unstable air over the course of the diurnal cycle. A drier surface also allows for a higher

cloud base height and a suppression of warm rain coalescence beneath the 0 8C isotherm


(Williams et al., 2004, 2005). A more polluted boundary layer may keep the cloud droplets

small, suppress the warm-rain coalescence process, and allow for more liquid water to

enter the mixed phase region where it can invigorate the ice-based electrification process.

The relative importance of these distinct factors has not been resolved.

4. Lightning response to temperature

The global warming issue has dominated climate research for many years. Global

lightning is naturally integrated by Schumann resonances and electrified weather is

naturally integrated by the DC global circuit. The existence of these natural global

frameworks led logically to considerations of how lightning and electrified clouds respond

to temperature and temperature change. Work in this area is summarized in Table 1. A

large number of papers have appeared with many developments aided by new data sources

for global lightning, both optical (Boccippio et al., 2000; Christian et al., 2003) and rf

(Mackerras et al., 1998; Watkins et al., 1998; Huang et al., 1999; Moore and Idone, 1999;

Fullekrug and Constable, 2000; Price et al., 2002; Wood and Inan, 2002). Many time

scales have been explored for lightning variations: the diurnal (Price, 1993; Markson and

Price, 1999; Markson, 2003), the 5-day wave (Patel, 2001), the intraseasonal (Madden–

Julian oscillation) (Anyamba et al., 2000), the semiannual (Williams, 1994, 1999; Satori

and Zieger, 1996; Fullekrug and Fraser-Smith, 1998; Nickolaenko et al., 1998; Manohar et

al., 1999; Nickolaenko et al., 1999; Christian et al., 2003), the annual (Williams, 1994;

Nickolaenko and Rabinowicz, 1995; Heckman et al., 1998; Williams et al., 2000;

Christian et al., 2003) and the interannual, dominated by the ENSO (Williams, 1992;

Lopez and Holle, 1998; Reeve and Toumi, 1999; Goodman et al., 2000; Hamid et al.,

2001; Morales and Vergara, 2000, Satori and Zieger, 1999). Price and Rind (1992) have

predicted more lightning in a warmer world based on results with a general circulation

model with enhanced CO2 content. Smith et al. (2000), Gilmore and Wicker (2002), Carey

Table 1

Summary of studies on global variations in lightning and temperature

Time scale Period,

day

Temperature

variation, 8CLightning

variation, %

References

Diurnal 1 1–2 ~30–100 Whipple (1929), Price (1993),

Markson and Price (1999),

Christian et al. (2003), Markson (2003)

Global 5-day wave 5 ? ~50 Patel (2001), Williams et al. (2001)

Intraseasonal (MJO) 30–60 0.5–1 ~50 Anyamba et al. (2000)

Semiannual 182 1 ~50 Williams (1994), Satori and Zieger (1996),

Fullekrug and Fraser-Smith (1998),

Manohar et al. (1999), Christian et al. (2003),

Manohar and Kesarkar (2003)

Annual 365 4 50–100 Heckman et al. (1998), Christian et al. (2003),

Toumi and Qie (2004)

ENSO 1000–2000 1 10–100 Williams (1992), Reeve and Toumi (1999),

Satori and Zieger (1999)

Decadal 3000–5000 0.3–0.6 ~10 Kazadi and Kaoru (1996)


et al. (2003), and Williams et al. (2004, 2005) have all called attention to enhancements in

clustered positive ground flash activity in the presence of elevated equivalent potential

temperature.

Physical mechanisms and hypotheses linking temperature and thermodynamics with

lightning and the global circuit are discussed in Williams et al. (2005) and will not be

repeated here. The evidence that lightning responds positively to temperature on all of the

foregoing time scales does not guarantee a pronounced global circuit response to

temperature. The key issue here is convective adjustment. On the diurnal time scale, for

example, the surface warms more readily than the upper atmosphere, as there is

insufficient time for the convection to bcommunicateQ with the upper troposphere. A

simple but radical form of forced convective adjustment, used largely for convenience in

global climate modeling, is the moist neutral state (Xu and Emanuel, 1989) in which

vertical temperature profiles are simply moist adiabats. This condition is not supported by

observations (Williams and Renno, 1993; Brown and Bretherton, 1997) but more

importantly, in the present context, would not sustain a global electrical circuit. An

atmosphere with finite but invariant CAPE (Emanuel et al., 1994), a less radical

convective adjustment, would support a global circuit (with possibly weak temperature

dependence) but is supported by neither observations (Gettelman et al., 2002) nor by

climate models (Ye et al., 1998). Within any framework involving finite CAPE, the

manner with which CAPE is evaluated is crucial to the water budget of the troposphere,

The pseudoadiabatic process dries the upper troposphere (Lindzen, 1990) by virtue of the

removal of cloud condensate the instant it forms. The reversible process (Xu and Emanuel,

1989) is more likely to flood the upper troposphere by virtue of the retention of all

condensate to the upper reaches of the convection. The reality is intermediate and

transcends the simplicities of parcel theory (Williams and Stanfill, 2002). The behavior of

the global electrical circuit on long time scales is a promising approach to the still

unresolved issues associated with convective adjustment in a turbulent atmosphere.

One naturally appeals to long time scales to understand convective adjustment and global

warming in the observations. The time scale of convenience (more than plan) is the

interannual, dominated by the tropical El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). There remains

much debate about the relevance of the ENSO variations (Lindzen, 1995; Bauer et al., 2001)

to the problem of global warming by CO2 but, nevertheless, it remains a primary btest-bedQfor observations. Foremost among these is the controversial issue of the water vapor

feedback in response to global warming (Sun and Held, 1996; Held and Soden, 2000).

The response of global lightning to temperature on the ENSO time scale is important

both from the standpoint of the water vapor feedback (Price, 2000; Soden, 2000) and from

the standpoint of convective adjustment. In considering all the results, a consistent feature

is for greater lightning in the warm (dEl NinoT) phase of the ENSO cycle. But here the

internal consistency of the observations ceases. Williams (1992) found a doubling in

Schumann resonance amplitude during the 1972 ENSO event that correlated with the

tropical temperature anomaly (Hansen and Lebedeff, 1987). Reeve and Toumi (1999)

found a positive interannual correlation but the lightning changes were extratropical.

Regional lightning studies on the ENSO time scale show a tropical enhancement in the

warm phase in one case (Hamid et al., 2001) and extratropical regional enhancements in

the other two cases (Goodman et al., 2000; Morales and Vergara, 2000).


Ongoing Schumann resonance observations show little change (b10%) over the recent

(1997–1998) ENSO event, in seeming contradiction to results reported in Williams (1992).

The reasons of this difference are currently unknown. This modest ENSO response stands

in marked contrast with the systematic annual variation of global lightning (Heckman et

al., 1998; Goodman and Cecil, 2001; Christian et al., 2003; Williams and Satori, 2004)

that is close to a factor-of-two in amplitude, with a maximum during NH summer when the

Earth is warmest (on account of the greater continentality of the NH). Satori and Zieger

(1999) have inferred systematic changes in the meridional location of tropical thunder-

storm regions on the basis of observations of Schumann resonance frequency variations on

the ENSO time scale. An investigation of ENSO anomalies in NASA OTD and LIS

observations is currently underway (D. Boccippio, pers. comm., 2003).

5. Upper tropospheric water vapor

The upper troposphere water vapor, despite its relatively small magnitude, is more

important than the water vapor in the boundary layer as a greenhouse substance for two

reasons. First, the energy transport by convective air motions in the lower troposphere

effectively short-circuits the radiative transfer relatively more than at upper levels (Brunt,

1952). Second, from a purely radiative standpoint, the boundary layer is substantially more

infrared-opaque than the upper troposphere (where the absolute humidity is comparatively

quite small) and so changes in water vapor at lower levels have relatively little effect (Held

and Soden, 2000). An important new finding in the area of lightning and climate is the

strong correlation between upper tropospheric water vapor and global lightning activity.

Price (2000) has used Schumann resonance measurements to compare with global

measurements of upper tropospheric water vapor and finds excellent agreement. This

finding is consistent with the thunderstorm’s role as an ice factory and a supplier of small

ice particles in the detraining anvils that spread out near tropopause level over areas

substantially greater than the updraft area. The predominance of the three tropical chimney

regions as water vapor sources is consistent with model computations of the thunderstorm

ice factory (Baker et al., 1995, 1999) and with global satellite observations of upper

tropospheric cirrus cloud (Kent et al., 1995).

On the basis of both model results and local observations of thunderstorms, Baker et al.

(1995), (1999) have suggested that lightning be used as a surrogate for the small ice

particle transport to the upper troposphere, which then contributes to water vapor there by

sublimation. This suggestion deserves attention because lightning is more easily measured

than water vapor. A remaining puzzle in this context is why the Maritime Continent, with

the least lightning activity (Christian et al., 2003), shows the most extensive area of high-

level cirrus (Kent et al., 1995; Wang et al., 2003), whereas Africa, with the greatest

lightning activity (Williams and Satori, 2004), shows the least area of high-level cirrus. A

likely resolution of this puzzle is that the Maritime Continent has very frequent, high-top

convection with modest updraft strengths (because the wet surface quells the instability).

Africa, in contrast, has a larger Bowen ratio (Williams and Satori, 2004), a stronger diurnal

cycle in temperature, more powerful but less frequent deep convection, and frequent

lightning but less cirrus.


6. Climate extremes

The dtailsT of geophysical distribution functions are often the most volatile and variable.

A good example is the distribution of photons from the sun. An important prediction of

climate models is for larger numbers of extreme events (rainfall, floods, severe storms,

hurricanes) in a warmer climate (IPCC Report, 1995; Kunkel, 2003). Atmospheric

electrical studies naturally focus on extremes of convection and extremes in lightning.

Thunderstorms are extreme clouds at the convective scale. Mesoscale convective

complexes (MCCs) (Laing and Fritsch, 1997) are extreme cloud systems at the mesoscale.

The positive lightning flashes in MCCs (Huang et al., 1999; Lyons et al., 2003) are likely

the most extreme energetically and are causal to sprites in the mesosphere (Williams,

2001a,b).

Given these extremes, natural questions arise relevant to lightning and climate:

(1) Are mean thunderstorm flash rates larger in a warmer world? Using the annual time

scale as a surrogate for climate (Lindzen, 1995), Williams et al. (2000) found dnoT.Using flash rates from the LIS between warm and cold phases of ENSO, Mushtak

and Williams (unpublished results, 2002) found dnoT.(2) Are there more thunderstorms in a warmer world? Using warm land areas as a

surrogate for warmer climate, the answer is dyesT. Using the annual time scale as a

surrogate, the answer is also dyesT. Using general circulation models, the answer is

dyesT (Price and Rind, 1992).

(3) Are there more MCCs in a warmer world? With comparisons between warm and

cold phases of ENSO in extratropical South America (Velasco and Fritch, 1987), the

answer is dyesT.(4) Are there more Schumann resonance Q-bursts (and associated sprites) with extreme

positive ground flashes in a warmer world? Work in progress using the ENSO as a

climate surrogate does not show strong effects.

In general, the evidence in Table 1 for diminished lightning sensitivity to temperature

on longer time scales casts some doubt on the existence of a reliable climate surrogate

(Lindzen, 1995) on shorter time scales in the lightning context. This is the problem of

convective adjustment, whose understanding is still incomplete.

7. The role for aerosol

The influence of the atmosphere aerosol on fair weather electricity has been known for

a century. An important role in climate has been realized only within the last couple of

decades. The development of innovative satellite methods for diagnosing cloud micro-

physics (Rosenfeld and Lensky, 1998; Rosenfeld and Woodley, 2003) in recent years has

greatly expanded the interest in aerosol as mediator of cloud microphysics, precipitation,

cloud electrification and lightning. The presumed role of increased aerosol concentration is

a reduced mean droplet size, a suppression of warm rain coalescence, and an enhancement

of the cloud water reaching the mixed phase region (Williams et al., 2002). Distinguishing


the aerosol influence from purely thermodynamic/dynamic effects has proven challenging,

as the published observations attest.

A three-fold enhancement of cloud-to-ground lightning flash density over Houston,

Texas in a 12-year record (Orville et al., 2001; Steiger et al., 2002) raises the issue of

pollution or heat island effect as a cause (Huff and Changnon, 1972). Though reductions in

rainfall (Rosenfeld, 1999) have been documented in association with pollution elsewhere,

the surplus of precipitation downwind from Houston by Shepherd and Burian (2003) casts

doubt on a dominant influence by pollution in this case. Both the precipitation

enhancement and the strong afternoon peak in the Houston lightning anomaly point to

a heat island effect as the primary causal agent. Further study is warranted and anticipated.

Steiger and Orville (2003) have more recently identified a lightning enhancement over oil

refineries near Lake Charles, Louisiana that they interpret as an aerosol effect. The sharp

discontinuity of flash density at the Texas and Louisiana coastlines suggests a primary role

for surface properties in controlling the lightning activity, however. Heat island and aerosol

effects are also under investigation in Brazil (Naccarato et al., 2003).

Experiments to verify enhanced lightning activity predicted by the aerosol hypothesis

were carried out by Williams et al. (2002) in Brazil. In the lightning-active pre-monsoon

period, the comparisons in measures of electrification between polluted and clean

conditions cast doubt on a primary role for aerosol in influencing the lightning. Recent

observations by Andreae et al. (2004), even earlier in the polluted transition season in

Brazil, suggest that aerosol can invigorate the convection. These results appear contrary to

the earlier findings of Williams et al. (2002). Quantitative measures of macroscopic

quantities (lightning, rainfall, and CAPE) were however lacking in the more recent study.

During the less active wet season, the distinction between aerosol and thermodynamic

contributions is even less clear-cut. Williams and Stanfill (2002) proposed tests to

distinguish the aerosol hypothesis from the traditional thermal hypothesis on the basis of

how lightning activity varies with island area. These results also support the thermal

hypothesis with islands acting in oceans as bheat islandsQ in the continent. Further studies

with islands in the same context have also been carried out (Williams et al., 2004, 2005),

with a similar result.

Studies in North America showing enhancements in cloud-to-ground flashes with

positive polarity (Lyons et al., 1998a; Murray et al., 2000) have been attributed to

incursions of smoke from fires in Mexico and subsequent ingestion by these thunder-

storms. Substantial enhancements in peak current have also been identified. Later studies

in Florida with LISDAD (Lightning Imaging Sensor Data Acquisition and Display)

(Williams et al., 2004, 2005) identified thunderstorms that produced almost exclusively

positive ground flashes but were also found in conditions of extraordinary instability.

Subsequent exploration of thunderstorms in Brazil forming over smoke from biomass

burning (Williams et al., 2002) does not corroborate the results found earlier in North

America (Lyons et al., 1998a; Murray et al., 2000). This difference remains a puzzle.

Different aerosol types in different regions may be a factor. In light of earlier results

showing clustered positive ground flashes beneath storms developing in strong instability

(MacGorman and Burgess, 1994), it seems prudent that both aerosol and instability be

examined in future work. An important role of cloud base height has been identified

recently by Williams et al. (2004, 2005) and Williams and Satori (2004). More recent work


(Jungwirth et al., 2003) suggests that aerosol chemistry also be explored in the context of

positive cloud-to-ground lightning.

Kuntz and Thuma (1999) have raised skepticism for the traditional storm-based

mechanism for the global electrical circuit and postulated that the gravity-driven descent of

negatively charged aerosol particles is the primary current source. They have not

substantiated their idea with observations, however.

8. Regional lightning climatology

The rapid expansion of lightning detection systems, both on the ground and in space,

has enabled a parallel expansion in the climatology of lightning. The behavior of lightning

has been investigated in Brazil (Petersen and Rutledge, 2001; Petersen et al., 2002;

Williams et al., 2002; Pinto et al., 1999, 2003; Pinto and Pinto, 2003), in Africa (Boccippio

et al., 2000; Patel, 2001; Fullekrug and Price, 2002), in India (Manohar et al., 1999;

Manohar and Kesarkar, 2003), in Spain (Rivas Soriano et al., 2001; De Pablo and Rivas

Soriano, 2002), in the Tibetan Plateau (Toumi and Qie, 2004), in Indonesia (Hamid et al.,

2001; Hidyat and Ishii, 1998), in Israel (Altaratz et al., 2003), the Mediterranean Sea

(Rivas Soriano and de Pablo, 2002; Altaratz et al., 2003), in the United States (Lyons et al.,

1998b; Huffines and Orville, 1999; Williams et al., 1999; Zajac and Rutledge, 2000;

Boccippio et al., 2001; Orville et al., 2002), over oceans (Fullekrug et al., 2002a), in the

tropics (Toracinta et al., 2002; Mushtak et al., 2005), in hurricanes (Cecil and Zipser, 1999,

2002; Cecil et al., 2002), and in mesoscale convective systems (Toracinta and Zipser,

2001).

9. Long period variations

A major stimulus in the long-standing debate about sun–weather relationships has been

the finding of correlation between galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and global cloud cover

(Svensmark and Friss-Christensen, 1997; Carslaw et al., 2002) on the 11-year solar cycle.

Udelhofen and Cess (2001) more recently found, using a longer record of cloud cover

observations in the U.S., coherency with the solar cycle but, in this case, the cloud cover

was out of phase on the 11-year cycle in GCR. The overall picture is unclear on the basis

of these two sets of observations. Tinsley (2000) and Tinsley and Yu (2004) have

suggested cloud microphysical mechanisms linking solar wind variations to atmospheric

energetics. The predominance of dwarmT cloud involvement in the long period correlations

(Marsh and Svensmark, 2000) casts doubt on those mechanisms involving glaciation,

though warm cloud albedo variation remains a possibility.

Correlations between ionospheric potential and GCR were reported earlier by Markson

(1981) on time scales much shorter than the 11-year solar cycle. One possible qualitative

explanation for a positive correlation between GCR and cloudiness would be an increase

in the columnar resistance caused by the cloudiness and hence an increase in ionospheric

potential for fixed supply current by electrified weather. Unfortunately, the variations of

ionospheric potential over the solar cycle are not well known, though Tinsley (1996)


presents measurements not at variance with theoretical model results (Roble and Hays,

1979).

A systematic decline in the global electrical circuit over the 20th century has been

claimed by Harrison (2002) on the basis of surface records of potential gradient in the

United Kingdom. The physical interpretation is based on correlations of Markson (1981)

between CR and ionospheric potential on shorter time scales and his physical

interpretation for this correlation (Markson, 1978). Given the evidence for correlated

behavior between the DC global circuit and lightning (Williams, 1992), Harrison’s results

would imply a substantial reduction (factor-of-two) in global lightning over the course of

the previous century, when global temperature is on the increase (Hansen and Lebedeff,

1987). An alternative explanation for Harrison’s observations is based on the documented

local decline in pollution in the UK (Novakov et al., 2003), with little change in the global

circuit (Williams, 2003).

Evidence for global changes in the frequencies and quality factors of Schumann

resonances on the 11-year time scale has been found by Fullekrug et al. (2002b) and Satori

et al. (2004). These variations are attributed to photon ionization in the upper dissipation

layer of the Earth–ionosphere cavity.

10. Conclusions

Global lightning activity and the global electrical circuit form a natural framework for

investigating climate issues. Global signals are evident on many different time scales and

forcing mechanisms for many of these time scales are well known. In considering the

coupling between the global circuit and the general circulation of the atmosphere, one needs

to draw distinctions between latent heating/rainfall and electrification/lightning because the

former is prevalent with shallow, gentle lifting of air, whereas the latter is caused by deeper,

stronger lifting. Key questions remain about the long-term response of lightning and the

global circuit to temperature change. High quality measurements of the global circuit may

serve as key diagnostics for adjustments in cloud buoyancy of the order of 1 8C.

Acknowledgements

I thank Steve Goodman for the use of Fig. 1. The author’s work on global lightning has

been supported by the Physical Meteorology section of the National Science Foundation

on Grant ATM-0003346, by the TRMM program at NASA GSFC on Grant NAG5-9637

and by the U.S.–Israel Binational Science Foundation.

References

Altaratz, O., Levin, Z., Yair, Y., Ziv, B., 2003. Lighting activity over land and sea on the eastern coast of the

Mediterranean. Mon. Weather Rev. 131, 2060–2070.

Andreae, M.O., Rosenfeld, D., Artaxo, P., Costa, A.A., Frank, G.P., Longo, K.M., Silva-Dias, M.A.F., 2004.

Smoking rainclouds over the Amazon. Science 303, 1337–1342.


Anyamba, E., Williams, E.R., Susskind, J., Fraser-Smith, A., Fullekrug, M., 2000. The manifestation of the

Madden–Julian oscillation in global deep convection and in the Schumann resonance intensity. J. Atmos. Sci.

57, 1029–1044.

Armstrong, R., Characterizing atmospheric electrodynamic emissions from lightning, sprites, jets and elves, Final

Report on Contract #DE-AC04-98AL79469 to US Dept of Energy, Mission Research Corporation, 18 April

2000.

Baker, M.B., Christian, H.J., Latham, J., 1995. A computational study of the relationships linking lightning

frequency and other thundercloud parameters. Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 121, 1525–1548.

Baker, M.B., Blyth, A.M., Christian, H.J., Latham, J., Miller, K.L., Gadian, A.M., 1999. Relationships between

lightning activity and various thundercloud parameters: satellite and modeling studies. Atmos. Res. 51,

221–236.

Bauer, M., Del Genio, A.D., Lanzante, J.R., 2001. Observed and simulated temperature–humidity relationships:

sensitivity to sampling and analysis. J. Climate 15, 203–215.

Boccippio, D.J., 2001. Lightning scaling relations revisited. J. Atmos. Sci. 59, 1086–1104.

Boccippio, D.J., Goodman, S.J., Heckman, S., 2000. Regional differences in tropical lightning distributions.

J. Appl. Met. 39, 2231–2248.

Boccippio, D.J., Cummins, K., Christian, H.J., Goodman, S.J., 2001. Combined satellite and surface-based

estimation of the intracloud/cloud-to-ground lightning ratio over the continental United States. Mon. Weather

Rev. 129, 108–122.

Brooks, C.E.P., 1925. The distribution of thunderstorms over the globe. Geophys. Mem. London 24, 147–164.

Brown, R.G., Bretherton, C.S., 1997. A test of the strict quasi-equilibrium theory on long time and space scales.

J. Atmos. Sci., 624–638.

Brunt, D., 1952. Physical and Dynamic Meteorology. Cambridge University Press. 428 pp.

Carey, L.D., Rutledge, S.A., Petersen, W.A., 2003. The relationship between severe weather reports and cloud-

to-ground lightning polarity in the contiguous United States from 1989 to 1998. Mon. Weather Rev. 131,

1211–1228.

Carslaw, K.S., Harrison, R.G., Kirby, J., 2002. Cosmic rays, clouds and climate. Science 298, 1732–1737.

Cecil, D.J., Zipser, E.J., 1999. Relationships between tropical cyclone intensity and satellite-based indicators of

inner core convection: 85 GHz ice-scattering signature and lightning. Mon. Weather Rev. 127, 103–123.

Cecil, D.J., Zipser, E.J., 2002. Reflectivity, ice scattering and lightning characteristics of hurricane eyewalls and

rainbands: Part II. Intercomparison of observations. Mon. Weather Rev. 130, 785–801.

Cecil, D.J., Zipser, E.J., Nesbitt, S.W., 2002. Reflectivity, ice scattering and lightning characteristics of hurricane

eyewalls and rainbands: Part I. Quantitative description. Mon. Weather Rev. 130, 769–784.

Christian, H.J., Blakeslee, R.J., Boccippio, D.J., Boeck, W.L., Buechler, D.E., Driscoll, K.T., Goodman, S.J.,

Hall, J.M., Koshak, W.J., Mach, D.M., Stewart, M.F., 2003. Global frequency and distribution of lightning as

observed from space by the optical transient detector. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 4005.

Cifeli, R., Petersen, W.A., Carey, L.D., Rutledge, S.A., 2002. Radar observations of the kinematic, microphysical

and precipitation characteristics of two MCSs in TRMM LBA. J. Geophys. Res. 107, D20 LBA Special

Issue.

De Pablo, F., Rivas Soriano, L., 2002. Relationship between cloud-to-ground lightning flashes over the Iberian

Peninsula and sea surface temperature. Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 128, 173–183.

Emanuel, K.A., Neelen, J.D., Bretherton, C.S., 1994. On large-scale circulations in convecting atmospheres.

Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 120, 1111–1143.

Fullekrug, M., Constable, S., 2000. Global triangulation of intense lightning discharges. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27

(3), 333.

Fullekrug, M., Fraser-Smith, A., 1998. Global lightning and climate variability inferred from ELF field variations.

Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 2411–2414.

Fullekrug, M., Price, C., 2002. Estimation of sprite occurrences in Central Africa. Meteorol. Z. 11, 99.

Fullekrug, M., Price, C., Yair, Y., Williams, E.R., 2002a. Oceanic lightning. Ann. Geophysicae 20, 133–137.

Fullekrug, M., Fraser-Smith, A.C., Schlegel, K., 2002b. Global ionospheric D-layer height monitoring.

Europhysics Letters 59 (4), 626.

Gettelman, A., Seidel, D.J., Wheeler, M.C., Ross, R.J., 2002. Multidecadal trends in tropical convective available

potential energy. J. Geophys. Res. 107 (D21), 4606.


Gilmore, M.S., Wicker, L.J., 2002. Influences on the local environment on supercell cloud-to-ground lightning,

radar characteristics, and severe weather on 2 June 1995. Mon. Weather Rev. 130, 2349–2372.

Goodman, S.J., Cecil, D.J., 2001. Structure and characteristics of precipitation systems observed by TRMM.

Preprints, 11th Conf. On Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, 15–18 October, Madison, WI. American

Meteorological Society, Boston, pp. 464–467.

Goodman, S.J., Buechler, D.E., Knupp, K., Driscoll, D., McCaul Jr.,, E.E., 2000. The 1997–98 El Nino event and

related wintertime lightning variations in the southeastern United States. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 541–544.

Halverson, J., Rickenbach, T., Roy, B., Pierce, H., Williams, E., 2002. Environmental characteristics of

convective systems during TRMM-LBA. Mon. Weather Rev. 130, 1493–1509.

Hamid, E.Y., Kawasaki, Z.-I., Mardiana, R., 2001. Impact of the 1997–98 El Nino events on lightning activity

over Indonesia. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 147–150.

Hansen, J.E., Lebedeff, S., 1987. Global trends of measured surface air temperature. J. Geophys. Res. 92,

13345–13372.

Harrison, G., 2002. Twentieth century secular decrease in the atmospheric potential gradient. Geophys. Res. Lett.

29.

Heckman, S., Williams, E., Boldi, R., 1998. Total global lightning inferred from Schumann resonance

measurements. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 31775–31779.

Held, I.M., Soden, B.J., 2000.Water vapor feedback and global warming. Ann. Rev. Energy Environ. 25, 441–475.

Hidyat, S., Ishii, M., 1998. Spatial and temporal variation of lightning activity around Java. J. Geophys. Res.,

14001–14009.

Huang, E., Williams, E., Boldi, R., Heckman, S., Lyons, W., Taylor, M., Nelson, T., Wong, C., 1999. Criteria for

sprites and elves based on Schumann resonance observations. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 16943–16964.

Huff, F.A., Changnon Jr.,, S.A., 1972. Inadvertent precipitation modification by urban areas. Preprints in Third

Conference on Weather Modification. AMS, Boston, MA, pp. 73–78.

Huffines, G.R., Orville, R.E., 1999. Lightning ground flash density and thunderstorm duration in the continental

United States: 1989–96. J. Appl. Met. 38, 1013–1019.

IPCC Report, 1995. The Science of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 572 pp.

Jorgenson, D.P., Lemone, M.A., 1994. Vertical velocity in oceanic convection off tropical Australia. J. Atmos.

Sci. 51, 3183–3193.

Jungwirth, P., Rosenfeld, D., Buch, V., 2003. A Hitherto Unrecognized Molecular Mechanism of Thundercloud

Electrification. Submitted to Atmos. Res.

Kazadi, S.-N., Kaoru, F., 1996. Interannual and long-term climate variability over the Zaire river basin during the

last 30 years. J. Geophys. Res. 101 (D16), 21351–21360.

Kent, G.S, Williams, E.R., Wang, P.H., McCormick, M.P., Skeens, K.M., 1995. Surface temperature-related

variations in tropical cirrus clouds as measured by SAGE II. J. Climate 8, 2577–2594.

Kunkel, K.E., 2003. Sea surface temperature forcing of the upward trend in U.S. extreme precipitation.

J. Geophys. Res. 108, D1.

Kuntz, W., Thuma, G., 1999. Geoelectricity: atmospheric charging and thunderstorms. J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys.

61, 955–963.

Laing, A.G., Fritsch, J.M., 1997. The global population of mesoscale convective complexes. Quart. J. Roy. Met.

Soc. 123, 389–405.

Latham, J., Christian, H., 1998. Satellite measurements of global lightning. Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 124,

1771–1773.

Lemone, M.A., Zipser, E.J., 1980. Cumulonimbus vertical velocity events in gate: Part I. Diameter, intensity and

mass flux. J. Atmos. Sci. 37, 2444–2457.

Lindzen, R.S., 1990. Some coolness concerning global warming. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 71, 288–299.

Lindzen, R.S., 1995. Seasonal surrogate for climate. J. Climate 8, 1681–1684.

Lopez, R.E., Holle, R.L., 1998. Changes in the number of lightning deaths in the United States during the

twentieth century. J. Climate 11, 2070–2077.

Lucas, C., Zipser, E., LeMone, M., 1994. Vertical velocity in oceanic convection off tropical Australia. J. Atmos.

Sci. 51, 3183–3193.

Lyons, W.A., Nelson, T.E., Williams, E.R., Cramer, J., Turner, T., 1998a. Enhanced positive cloud-to-ground

lightning in thunderstorms ingesting smoke. Science 282, 77–81.


Lyons, W.A., Uliasz, M., Nelson, T.E., 1998b. Large peak current cloud-to-ground lightning flashes during the

summer months in the contiguous United States. Mon. Weather Rev. 126, 2217–2233.

Lyons, W.A., Nelson, T.E., Williams, E.R., Cummer, S.A., Stanley, M.A., 2003. Characteristics of sprite-

producing positive cloud-to-ground lightning during the 19 July 2000 STEPS mesoscale convective systems.

Mon. Weather Rev. 131, 2417–2427.

MacGorman, D., Burgess, D., 1994. Positive cloud-to-ground lightning in tornadic storms and hailstorms. Mon.

Weather Rev. 122, 1671–1697.

Mackerras, D., Darveniza, M., Orville, R.E., Williams, E.R., Goodman, S.J., 1998. Global lightning: total, cloud

and ground flash estimates. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 19791–19809.

Manohar, G.K., Kesarkar, A.P., 2003 (June). Climatology of thunderstorm activity over the Indian region: a

study of east–west contrast. Proceedings of the International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity.

Versailles, pp. 17–20.

Manohar, G.K., Kandalgaonkar, S.S., Tinmaker, M.I.R., 1999. Thunderstorm activity over India and Indian

southwest monsoon. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 4169–4188.

Markson, R., 1978. Solar modulation of atmospheric electrification and possible implications for the sun–weather

relationship. Nature 273, 103–109.

Markson, R., 1981. Modulation of the earth’s electric field by cosmic radiation. Nature 291, 304–308.

Markson, R., 2003. Ionospheric potential variation from temperature change over continents. Proceedings of the

12th International Conf. on Atmos. Elec., Versailles, France (June 9–13), vol. I, pp. 283–286.

Markson, R., Price, C., 1999. Ionospheric potential as a proxy index for global temperature. Atmos. Res. 51,

309–314.

Marsh, N., Svensmark, H., 2000. Cosmic rays, clouds and climate. Space Sci. Rev. 94, 215–230.

McCollum, J.R., Gruber, A., Ba, M.B., 2000. Discrepancy between gauges and satellite estimates of rainfall in

equatorial Africa. J. Appl. Met. 39, 666–679.

Moore, P.K., Idone, V.P., 1999. Cloud-to-ground lightning at low surface temperatures. 11th International Conf.

on Atmos. Electricity, NASA/CP-1999-209261, pp. 472–475.

Morales, C.A., Vergara, J.A., 2000. Analysis of TRMM rainfall and lightning measurements in Chile during the

summer of 1997/98 (El Nino) and 1998/99 (La Nina) summer events. 6th International Conf. on Southern

Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography, Santiago, Chile.

Murray, N.D., Orville, R.E., Huffines, G.R., 2000. Effect of pollution from Central American fires on cloud-to-

ground lightning in May 1998. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 2249–2252.

Mushtak, V.C., Williams, E.R., Boccippio, D.J., 2005. Latitudinal Variations of Cloud Base Height and Lightning

Parameters in the Tropics. Atmos. Res. 76, 222–230 (this issue).

Naccarato, K.P., Pinto Jr., P., Pinto, I.R.C.A., 2003. Evidence of thermal and aerosol effects on the cloud-to-

ground lightning density and polarity over large urban areas of Southeastern Brazil. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30

(13).

Nickolaenko, A.P., Rabinowicz, L.M., 1995. Study of annual changes of global lightning distribution and

frequency variations of the first Schumann resonance mode. J. Atmos. Terr. Phys. 57, 1345–1348.

Nickolaenko, A.P., Satori, G., Zieger, B., Rabinowicz, L.M., Kudintseva, I.G., 1998. Parameters of global

thunderstorm activity deduced from the long-term Schumann resonance records. J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 60,

387–399.

Nickolaenko, A.P., Hayakawa, M., Hobara, Y., 1999. Long-term periodical variations in global lightning activity

deduced from Schumann resonance monitoring. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 27585–27591.

Novakov, T., Ramanathan, V., Hansen, J.E., Kirchstetter, T.W., Sato, M., Sinton, J.E., Sathaye, J.A., 2003. Large

historical changes in fossil-fuel black carbon aerosols. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2002GL01634.

Orville, R.E., Henderson, R.W., 1986. The global distribution of midnight lightning: December 1977 to August

1978. Mon. Weather Rev. 114, 2640–2653.

Orville, R.E., Huffines, G.R., Nielsen-Gammon, J., Zhang, R., Ely, B., Steiger, S., Phillips, S., Allen, S., Read,

W., 2001. Enhancement of cloud-to-ground lightning activity over Houston, Texas. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28,

2597–2600.

Orville, R.E., Huffines, G.R., Burrows, W.R., Holle, R.L., Cummins, K.L., 2002. The North American Lightning

Detection Network (NALDN)—first results: 1998–2000. Mon. Weather Rev. 130, 2098–2109.


Patel, A., 2001. Modulation of African lightning and rainfall by the global five day wave, Masters Thesis,

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 176pp, June.

Petersen, W.A., Rutledge, S.A., 2001. Regional variability in tropical convection: observations from TRMM.

J. Climate 14, 3566–3586.

Petersen, W.A., Rutledge, S.A., Orville, R.E., 1996. Cloud-to-ground lightning observations from TOGA

COARE: selected results and lightning location algorithms. Mon. Weather Rev. 124, 602–620.

Petersen, W.A., Nesbitt, S.W., Blakeslee, R.J., Cifeli, R., Hein, P., Rutledge, S.A., 2002. TRMM observations of

intraseasonal variability in convective regimes over the Amazon. J. Clim. 15, 1278–1294.

Pinto, I.R.C.A., Pinto Jr., O., 2003. Cloud-to-ground lightning distribution in Brazil. J. Atmos. Sol. -Terr. Phys.

65, 733–737.

Pinto Jr., O., Pinto, I.R.C., Gomez, M.A.S.S., Vitorello, I., Padilha, A.L., Diniz, J.H., Carvalho, A.M, Cazetta

Filho, A., 1999. Cloud-to-ground lightning in southeastern Brazil in 1993: 1. Geographical distribution. J.

Geophys. Res. 104, 31369–31379.

Pinto Jr., O., Regina, I., Pinto, C.A., Diniz, J.H., Filho, A.C., Cherchiglia, L.C.L., Carvalho, A.M., 2003. A

seven-year study about the negative cloud-to-ground flash characteristics in southern Brazil. J. Atmos. Sol.

-Terr. Phys. 65, 739–748.

Price, C., 1993. Global surface temperatures and the atmospheric electric circuit. Geophys. Res. Lett. 20, 1363.

Price, C., 2000. Evidence for a link between global lightning activity and upper tropospheric water vapor. Nature

406, 290–293.

Price, C., Rind, D., 1992. A simple lightning parameterization for calculating global lightning distributions.

J. Geophys. Res., 9919–9933.

Price, C., Asfur, M., Lyons, W., Nelson, T., 2002. An improved ELF/VLF method for globally geolocating sprite-

producing lightning. Geophys. Res. Lett. 29 (3).

Reeve, N., Toumi, R., 1999. Lightning activity as an indicator of climate change. Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 125,

893–903.

Riehl, H., Malkus, J.S., 1958. On the heat balance of the equatorial trough zone. Geophysica 6, 503–537.

Rivas Soriano, L.R., de Pablo, F., 2002. Maritime cloud-to-ground lightning: the western Mediterranean

Sea. J. Geophys. Res. 107 (D21), 4597.

Rivas Soriano, L., de Pablo, F., Garcia Diaz, E., 2001. Cloud to ground lightning activity in the Iberian peninsula,

1992–1994. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 11891–11901.

Roble, R.G., Hays, P.B., 1979. A quasi-static model of global atmospheric electricity: II. Electrical coupling

between the upper and lower atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 84, 7247–7256.

Rosenfeld, D., 1999. TRMM observed first direct evidence of smoke from forest fires inhibiting rainfall.

Geophys. Res. Lett. 26, 3105–3108.

Rosenfeld, D., Lensky, I.M., 1998. Spaceborne-sensed insights into precipitation formation processes in maritime

and continental clouds. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79, 2457–2476.

Rosenfeld, D., Woodley, W.L., 2003. Closing the 5-year circle: from cloud seeding to space and back to

climate change through precipitation physics. In: Tao, W.-K., Adler, R. (Eds.), Cloud Systems,

Hurricanes, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), Meteorol. Monogr., vol. 51, pp. 59–80.

Chapter 6.

Satori, G., Zieger, B., 1996. Spectral characteristics of Schumann resonances observed in central Europe.

J. Geophys. Res. 101, 29663–29669.

Satori, G., Zieger, B., 1999. El Nino related meridional oscillation of global lightning activity. Geophys. Res. Lett.

26, 1365–1368.

Satori, G., Williams, E., Mushtak, V., Fullekrug, M., 2004. Response of the Cavity Resonator to the 11-year Solar

Cycle. Accepted by JASTP.

Shepherd, J.M., Burian, S.J., 2003. Detection of urban-induced rainfall anomalies in a major coastal city. Earth

Interct. 7, 1–17.

Smith, S.B., LaDue, J.G., MacGorman, D.R., 2000. The relationship between cloud-to-ground lightning

polarity and surface equivalent potential temperature during three tornadic outbreaks. Mon. Weather Rev.

128, 3320–3328.

Soden, B.J., 2000. Enlightening water vapor. Nature 406, 247–248.


Steiger, S.M., Orville, R.E., Huffines, G., 2002. Cloud-to-ground lightning characteristics over Houston, Texas:

1989–2000. J. Geophys. Res. 107.

Steiger, S.M., Orville, R.E., 2003. Cloud-to-ground lightning enhancement over southern Louisiana. Geophys.

Res. Lett. 30.

Sun, D.-Z., Held, I.M., 1996. A comparison of modeled and observed relationships between interannual

variations of upper tropospheric water vapor. J. Climate 9, 665–675.

Svensmark, H., Friss-Christensen, E., 1997. Variation of cosmic ray flux and global cloud coverage—a missing

link in solar–climate relationships. J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 11, 1225–1232.

Tinsley, B.A., 1996. Correlations of atmospheric dynamics with solar wind-induced changes of air–earth current

density into cloud tops. J. Geophys. Res. 101, 29701–29714.

Tinsley, B.A., 2000. Influence of the solar wind on the global electric circuit, and inferred effects on cloud

microphysics, temperature, and dynamics of the troposphere. Space Sci. Rev. 94, 231–258.

Tinsley, B.A., Yu, F., 2004. Atmospheric ionization and clouds as links between solar activity and climate. In:

Pap, J., Fox, P. (Eds.), Solar Variability and its Effects on Climate. Geophys. Monogr. 141, American

Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.

Toracinta, E.R., Zipser, E.J., 2001. Lightning and SSM/I-ice-scattering mesoscale convective systems in the

global tropics. J. Appl. Met. 40, 983–1002.

Toracinta, E.R., Cecil, D.J., Zipser, E.J., Nesbitt, S.W., 2002. Radar, passive microwave and lightning

characteristics of precipitating systems in the tropics. Mon. Weather Rev. 130, 802–824.

Toumi, R., Qie, X.S., 2004 (Feb 27). Seasonal variation of lightning on the Tibetan plateau: a spring anomaly?

Geophys. Res. Lett. 31 (4) Art. No. L04115.

Udelhofen, P.M., Cess, R.D., 2001. Cloud cover variations over the United States: an influence of cosmic rays or

solar variability? Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 2617–2620.

Velasco, I., Fritch, J.M., 1987. Mesoscale convective complexes in the Americas. J. Geophys. Res. 92, 9591–9613.

Wang, P.-H., Minnis, P., Wielicki, B.A., Wong, T., Cess, R.D., Zhang, M., Vann, L.B., Kent, G.S., 2003.

Characteristics of the 1997/1998 El Nino cloud distributions from SAGE II observations. J. Geophys. Res.

108, 4009.

Watkins, N.W., Clilverd, M.A., Smith, A.J., Yearby, K.H., 1998. A 25-year record of 10 kHZ sferics noise in

Antarctica: implications for tropical lightning levels. Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 4353–4356.

Whipple, F.J.W., 1929. On the association of the diurnal variation of electric potential gradient in fine weather

with the distribution of thunderstorms over the globe. Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 55, 1–17.

Williams, E.R., 1992. The Schumann resonance: a global tropical thermometer. Science 256, 1184–1187.

Williams, E.R., 1994. Global circuit response to seasonal variations in global surface air temperature. Mon.

Weather Rev. 122, 1917–1929.

Williams, E.R., 1999. Global circuit response to temperature on distinct time scales: a status report. In: Hayakawa,

M. (Ed.), Atmospheric and Ionospheric Phenomena Associated with Earthquakes. Terra Scientific Publishing,

Tokyo.

Williams, E.R., 2001a (November). Sprites, elves and glow discharge tubes. Physics Today, 41–47.

Williams, E.R., 2001b. The electrification of severe storms. In: Doswell Jr., C.A. (Ed.), Severe Convective

Storms. American Meteorological Society, pp. 527–561. 561 pp.

Williams, E.R., 2003. Comments on: "Twentieth century secular decrease in the atmospheric potential

gradient" by Giles Harrison: global changes in current or local changes in air pollution? Geophys. Res.

Lett. (in review).

Williams, E.R., Renno, N.O., 1993. An Analysis of the Conditional Instability of the Ttropical Atmosphere

vol. 121, pp. 21–36.

Williams, E.R., Satori, G., 2004. Lightning, thermodynamic and hydrological comparison of the two tropical

continental chimneys. J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 66, 1213–1231.

Williams, E., Stanfill, S., 2002. The physical origin of the land–ocean contrast in lightning activity. C. R. - Acad.

Sci., Phys. 3, 1277–1292.

Williams, E., Boldi, R., Matlin, A., Weber, M., Hodanish, S., Sharp, D., Goodman, S., Raghavan, R., Buechler,

D., 1999. The behavior of total lightning activity in severe Florida thunderstorms. Atmos. Res. 51, 245–265.


Williams, E.R., Rothkin, K., Stevenson, D., Boccippio, D., 2000. Global lightning variations caused by changes

in thunderstorm flash rate and by changes in the number of thunderstorms. J. Appl. Met. 39, 2223–2248

(TRMM Special Issue).

Williams, E.R., Patel, A.C., Boldi, R., 2001. Modulation of mesoscale lightning and rainfall by the global 5-day

wave. EOS 82, F141.

Williams, E.R., et al., 2002. Contrasting convective regimes over the Amazon: implications for cloud

electrification. J. Geophys. Res. 107 (D20), 8082 LBA Special Issue.

Williams, E., Chan, T., Boccippio, D., 2004. Islands as miniature continents: Another look at the land-ocean

lightning contrast. J. Geophys. Res. 109, D16206.

Williams, E.R., Mushtak, V.C., Rosenfeld, D., Goodman, S.J., Boccippio, D.J., 2005. Thermodynamic conditions

favorable to superlative thunderstorm updraft, mixed phase microphysics and lightning flash rate. Atmos. Res.

76, 288–306 (this issue).

Wood, T.G., Inan, U.S., 2002. Long-range tracking of thunderstorms using sferic measurements vol. 107,

pp. 4553 D21.

Xu, K.-M., Emanuel, K.A., 1989. Is the tropical atmosphere conditionally unstable? Mon. Weather Rev. 117,

1471–1479.

Ye, B., Del Genio, A.D., Lo, K.-W., 1998. CAPE variations in the current climate and in a climate change.

J. Climate 11, 1997–2015.

Zajac, B.A., Rutledge, S.A., 2000. Cloud-to-ground lightning activity in the contiguous United States from

1995–97. Mon. Weather Rev. 129, 999–1019.

Zipser, E.J., 1994. Deep cumulonimbus cloud systems in the tropics with and without lightning. Mon. Weather

Rev. 122, 1837–1851.

Lightning and climate: A review

Documents

Transcript of Lightning and climate: A review