Reduction in Global Lightning Activity During the COVID Pandemic
Abstract The effect of anthropogenic aerosols on lightning is one of the least understood aspects of human‐induced climate change. Global aerosol clearly diminished during the COVID pandemic by 7.6%. A pronounced decrease in global lightning activity in the range 3.0%–5.8% is identified from various detection systems during this natural experiment. The Maritime Continent lightning chimney shows the largest reduction of 7.0% in aerosol accompanied by a lightning drop of 15%. The COVID period in 2020 also experiences a transition from pre‐COVID El Niño to a strong and sustained La Niña. Compensation for ENSO forcing of lightning activity is implemented to disclose the distinct responses of three global lightning chimneys to competing thermodynamic and aerosol effects. Our observational findings indicate a marked influence of aerosol on a global scale by virtue of the extraordinary COVID‐induced aerosol alteration.
Authors
- Earle Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1488-3361)
- Gabriella Sátori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3411-6071)
- Yanan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9359-4965)
- Anirban Guha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1952-7916)
- Osmar Pinto Neto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3978-8320)
- R. H. Holzworth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8839-618X)
- Elizabeth DiGangi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9665-5738)
- R. Said (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8095-4204)
- Katrina S. Virts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8616-9557)
- Jeff Lapierre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7176-9808)
- Timothy James Lang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1576-572X)
- Yakun Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8460-5191)
Institutions
- Marshall Space Flight Center (US)
- Parsons (United States) (US)
- Vaisala (United States) (US)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Anhembi Morumbi University (BR)
- University of Washington (US)
- California State University, San Marcos (US)
- Applied Engineering Management (United States) (US)
- HUN-REN Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science (HU)
- Earth and Space Research (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Tripura University (IN)
- University of Alabama in Huntsville (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
- Published
- 2025-04-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jd042319
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.42
Funders
- National Science Foundation