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Liu F, Neubert T, Chanrion O, Lu G, Wu T, Lyu F, Lyu W, Köhn C, Li D, Zhu B, Lei J. Polarity transitions of narrow bipolar events in thundercloud tops reaching the lower stratosphere. Nat Commun 2024; 15:7344. [PMID: 39187500 PMCID: PMC11347600 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51705-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/13/2024] [Indexed: 08/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Blue corona discharges are often generated in thunderclouds penetrating into the stratosphere and are the optical manifestation of narrow bipolar events (NBEs) observed in radio signals. While their production appears to depend on convection, the cause and nature of such discharges are not well known. Here we show the observations by a lightning detection array of unusual amounts of 982 NBEs during a tropical storm on the coastline of China. NBEs of negative polarity are predominantly observed at the cloud top reaching the stratosphere, and positive NBEs are primarily at lower altitudes. We find that the dominant polarity changes with the typical time of development of thunderstorm cells, suggesting that the polarity depends on the phase of the storm cells. Furthermore, we find that the lightning jump of negative NBEs is associated with above-anvil cirrus plumes of ice crystals and water vapor in the lower stratosphere. We propose that variations in updrafts induce changes in the altitude and charge concentrations of the cloud layers, which lead to the polarity transition. Our results have implications for studies of the chemical perturbations of greenhouse gas concentrations by corona discharges at the tropopause.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feifan Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- CMA-USTC Laboratory of Fengyun Remote Sensing, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- Department of Space and Earth Science and Technology, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space), Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Torsten Neubert
- Department of Space and Earth Science and Technology, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space), Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Olivier Chanrion
- Department of Space and Earth Science and Technology, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space), Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Gaopeng Lu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Ting Wu
- Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan
| | - Fanchao Lyu
- Nanjing Joint Institute for Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Weitao Lyu
- Nanjing Joint Institute for Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Christoph Köhn
- Department of Space and Earth Science and Technology, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space), Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Dongshuai Li
- Department of Space and Earth Science and Technology, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space), Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Baoyou Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
| | - Jiuhou Lei
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
- Mengcheng National Geophysical Observatory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
- CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, China.
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Optical observations of thunderstorms from the International Space Station: recent results and perspectives. NPJ Microgravity 2023; 9:12. [PMID: 36739448 PMCID: PMC9899213 DOI: 10.1038/s41526-023-00257-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The International Space Station (ISS) is in the lowest available orbit at ~400 km altitude, bringing instruments as close to the atmosphere as possible from the vantage point of space. The orbit inclination is 51.6°, which brings the ISS over all the low- and mid-latitude regions of the Earth and at all local times. It is an ideal platform to observe deep convection and electrification of thunderstorms, taken advantage of by the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and the Atmosphere Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) experiments. In the coming years, meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit (~36,000 km altitude) will provide sophisticated cloud and lightning observations with almost complete coverage of the Earth's thunderstorm regions. In addition, Earth-observing satellite instruments in geostationary- and low-Earth orbit (LEO) will measure more atmospheric parameters at a higher resolution than we know today. The new infrastructure in space offers an opportunity to advance our understanding of the role of thunderstorms in atmospheric dynamics and climate change. Here, we discuss how observations from the ISS or other LEO platforms with instruments that view the atmosphere at slanted angles can complement the measurements from primarily nadir-oriented instruments of present and planned missions. We suggest that the slanted viewing geometry from LEO may resolve the altitude of electrical activity and the cloud structure where they occur, with implications for modelling thunderstorms' effects on the atmosphere's radiative properties and climate balance.
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