A projected decrease in lightning under climate change

Declan L. Finney (), Ruth M. Doherty, Oliver Wild, David S. Stevenson, Ian A. MacKenzie and Alan M. Blyth
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Declan L. Finney: The University of Edinburgh
Ruth M. Doherty: The University of Edinburgh
Oliver Wild: Lancaster University
David S. Stevenson: The University of Edinburgh
Ian A. MacKenzie: The University of Edinburgh
Alan M. Blyth: University of Leeds

Nature Climate Change, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, 210-213

Abstract: Abstract Lightning strongly influences atmospheric chemistry1–3, and impacts the frequency of natural wildfires 4 . Most previous studies project an increase in global lightning with climate change over the coming century1,5–7, but these typically use parameterizations of lightning that neglect cloud ice fluxes, a component generally considered to be fundamental to thunderstorm charging 8 . As such, the response of lightning to climate change is uncertain. Here, we compare lightning projections for 2100 using two parameterizations: the widely used cloud-top height (CTH) approach 9 , and a new upward cloud ice flux (IFLUX) approach 10 that overcomes previous limitations. In contrast to the previously reported global increase in lightning based on CTH, we find a 15% decrease in total lightning flash rate with IFLUX in 2100 under a strong global warming scenario. Differences are largest in the tropics, where most lightning occurs, with implications for the estimation of future changes in tropospheric ozone and methane, as well as differences in their radiative forcings. These results suggest that lightning schemes more closely related to cloud ice and microphysical processes are needed to robustly estimate future changes in lightning and atmospheric composition.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0072-6

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