Lightning and precipitation: The possible electrical modification of observed raindrop size distributions

Mudiar, Dipjyoti; Pawar, S. D.; Hazra, Anupam; Gopalkrishnan, V.; Lal, D.; Chakravarty, Kaustav; Domkawale, Manoj A.; Srivastava, Manoj; Goswami, B. N.; Williams, Earle

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2021.105663

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…A recent study by Mudiar et al. (2021a, 2021b) also confirms the microphysical link, earlier proposed by Moore et al. (1962, 1964), between lightning and enhanced precipitation intensity after the occurrence of the lightning flash.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…It has also been shown that the cloud electric field can modify the rain rate at the Earth's surface by enhancing the growth of raindrops. A recent study by Mudiar et al (2021aMudiar et al ( , 2021b) also confirms the microphysical link, earlier proposed by Moore et al (1962Moore et al ( , 1964, between lightning and enhanced precipitation intensity after the occurrence of the lightning flash. It is concluded from these observations that the lightning-induced atmospheric ions and prevailing electrical forces may potentially modulate the DSD as well as enhance the rain intensity by influencing the collision-coalescence process and the growth rate of raindrops after lightning.…”

supporting

confidence: 75%

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Binary Collisions of Water Drops in Presence of Horizontal Electric Fields: A Wind Tunnel Study

2023

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Manifestation of several dynamical, microphysical and electrical processes and their mutual interactions in the cloud result in rainfall, the most desired component of global water cycles. In warm clouds, raindrops are formed by a "Chain reaction'' involving several microphysical processes such as nucleation, condensation, collision, coalescence, and the breakup of drops (Langmuir, 1948). Drop breakup is an important process that limits the maximum size of the raindrops. Two mechanisms are usually considered to be responsible for the drop breakup process that controls the drop size inside the clouds: (a) collision-induced breakup following binary collisions of raindrops in which drops temporarily coalesce and then break up into several fragments, and (b) spontaneous breakup where a single large raindrop becomes hydro-dynamically unstable and breaks up spontaneously into smaller fragments in absence of collision. Generally, large raindrops are formed either as a result of the melting of large ice pellets or snowflakes originating from mixed-phase regions (Hobbs & Rangno, 2004). Both the breakup processes contribute to the evolution of raindrop size distribution (DSD) and may have different significance to drop spectrum evolution in different clouds. However, owing to difficulties in the formation of large raindrops in the clouds, several experiments and theoretical studies emphasize the collision-induced breakup process as the overwhelming cause of drop breakup and are considered to be as influential to the resulting DSD in warm rain processes (Pruppacher and Klett, 2010).

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

supporting

confidence: 75%

Binary Collisions of Water Drops in Presence of Horizontal Electric Fields: A Wind Tunnel Study

2023

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“…It has also been shown that the cloud electric field can modify the rain rate at the Earth's surface by enhancing the growth of raindrops. A recent study by Mudiar et al (2021) also confirms the microphysical link, earlier proposed by Moore et al (1962Moore et al ( , 1964, between lightning and enhanced precipitation intensity after the occurrence of the lightning flash. It is concluded from these observations that the lightning-induced atmospheric ions and prevailing electrical forces may potentially modulate the DSD as well as enhance the rain intensity by influencing the collision-coalescence process and the growth rate of raindrops after lightning.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Binary Collisions of water drops in presence of horizontal electric fields: A wind tunnel study

Bhalwankar

Pawar²,

Kamra

2022

Preprint

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Coalescence/breakup characteristics of binary collisions of small water drops (d S =0.4-1.8 mm diameter) with large drops (d L =3-3.5 mm diameter) occurring in the absence/presence of horizontal electric field (E H ) = 0, 100, and 300 kVm -1 have been investigated in a small vertical wind tunnel using a high-speed digital camera. The coalescence efficiency (E C ) of 0.299 observed for average diameters (d L =3.2 mm, d S =1.2 mm) in E H = 0 decreased to 0.244/0.211 when E H is increased to 100/300 kVm -1 . The increase in the electric field reduces the probability of coalescence when Weber number (We) <1. However, when We [?] 1, an increase in We restricts the probability of coalescence. Our data, when plotted in the regime diagram in the We*p plane, delineates the collision outcomes in all-electric field values but does show the overlapping of some data points in the adjacent categories. After a binary collision, the relaxation time required for the occurrence of coalescence is higher than that for the breakup. Further, the relaxation time increases from the filament to sheet to disk mode of breakup in all-electric field values. Fragment size distributions after the filament and sheet types of breakups differ and are differently affected by the applied electric field. Higher collision kinetic energy (CKE) has a tendency to increase the number of fragments of the sizes between d L and d S . It is concluded therefore that, the effect of the electric field needs to be included in the estimation of drop growth and precipitation in clouds.

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“…The development of an electric field within the cloud depends on cloud types, cloud base heights and the sunrise effect (3,4) . Both lightning and rainfall are the products of convection but the key difference is the dependence on the updraft speed (5) . Based on satellite and Indian lightning location sensor datasets, it is observed that nearly 93 % of lightning activities are occurring in the Himalayas due to western disturbances (6) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lightning Development over the Distinct Climate Regions of Uttarakhand, India

Gautam¹,

Singh²,

Gautam³

et al. 2023

IJST

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Objectives: Lightning activity and its connections with meteorology and aerosol loading over Uttarakhand, with varying topography and climates, is studied using ISS Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) aboard international space station (ISS) data during the period 2018-2021. Methods: To understand the variation of lightning activity with meteorology and aerosol loading the correlation of lightning activity with different meteorological parameters such as surface temperature, convective available potential energy (CAPE), aerosol optical depth (AOD), and convective precipitation is studied. Findings: Very poor correlation is observed between lightning flash counts with the meteorological parameters. Annual variation of lightning activity over Uttarakhand shows maximum during the monsoon season (June-September) with a peak during the pre-monsoon season (March-May) month April. The high frequency of western disturbances defined as warm low-pressure systems associated with moisture originated over Mediterranean Sea travelling from west to east across the northern states are responsible for peak lightning activity during pre-monsoon month April and maximum lightning activity in the monsoon season is attributed to the monsoon convection. Novelty: The study made the spatio -temporal variation of lightning over Uttarakhand and also reveals the connection between lightning and different meteorological parameters in different climatic conditions of Uttarakhand which is first defining the importance of large-scale meteorological processes in the development of lightning in Uttarakhand.

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Lightning and precipitation: The possible electrical modification of observed raindrop size distributions

Cited by 15 publications

References 77 publications

Binary Collisions of Water Drops in Presence of Horizontal Electric Fields: A Wind Tunnel Study

Binary Collisions of Water Drops in Presence of Horizontal Electric Fields: A Wind Tunnel Study

Binary Collisions of water drops in presence of horizontal electric fields: A wind tunnel study

Lightning Development over the Distinct Climate Regions of Uttarakhand, India

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