Lightning Discharges, Cosmic Rays and Climate

Kumar, Sanjay; Siingh, Devendraa; Singh, R. P.; Singh, Abhay Kumar; Kamra, A. K.

doi:10.1007/s10712-018-9469-z

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 306 publications

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“…Recently, in a review, Kumar et al () noticed that the relation between thunderstorm activity and solar activity most likely depends on the location of observing stations on the Earth where cosmic ray flux and local meteorological conditions may dominate. This could explain that in various studies, the thunderstorm activity is sometimes correlated, sometimes anticorrelated to the solar activity (see their Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since his pioneering work, a huge number of papers has been published concerning the most important phenomenon occurring in the Earth's atmosphere (about 2,000 thunderstorms are active at any time (Uman, 1986)). For example, contribution and review can be found in Helliwell (1965Helliwell ( , 1993, Hayakawa (1995), Green and Inan (2006), Füllekrug et al (2006), Siingh et al (2008), and Kumar et al (2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Short‐Fractional Hop Whistler Rate Observed by the Low‐Altitude Satellite DEMETER at the End of the Solar Cycle 23

2019

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For the first time an evaluation of the whistler rate around the Earth is performed using results from the neural network aboard the microsatellite DEMETER. It is shown that the rate of whistlers with low dispersion calculated all around the Earth as a function of longitude vary between 1 and 6 s−1 during nighttime (22.30 LT) and between 0.5 and 0.7 s−1 during daytime (10.30 LT). The whistler rate is anticorrelated with the F10.7‐cm solar flux. A decrease by 25% of the solar flux corresponds to an increase of 62% (26%) of the averaged whistler rate calculated for the entire Earth during nighttime (daytime). Using this averaged whistler rate, the global lightning rate is estimated to be of the order of 123 s−1 (27 s−1) during nighttime (daytime). The main conclusion concerns the precipitation of the electrons in the radiation belt by interaction with the whistlers. It is shown that the decrease of the lightning activity at solar minimum (shown with the help of the Schumann resonances) is largely counterbalanced by the increase of the whistler rates in the upper part of the ionosphere due to the decrease of the ionospheric absorption.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐Fractional Hop Whistler Rate Observed by the Low‐Altitude Satellite DEMETER at the End of the Solar Cycle 23

2019

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“…The presence of ions in the atmosphere is the resultant balance between the ion production rate and loss of ions through different processes. In the lower atmosphere/troposphere, cosmic rays are the primary source of ionization and are the main source of ionization above a height of ~ 1 km Carslaw et al 2002;Siingh and Singh 2010;Singh et al 2011;Kumar et al 2018). Geomagnetic fields influence the movement of cosmic rays in the Earth's environment; hence ionization produced in the atmosphere is dependent on geomagnetic latitude and solar variability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Positive and Negative Atmospheric Air Ions During New Particle Formation (NPF) Events over Urban City of India

et al. 2021

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Simultaneous measurements of ion-mobility spectra of both polarities with a Neutral Air Ion Spectrometer (NAIS) operating in the mobility range 3.16-0.00133 cm 2 V −1 s −1 (mass diameter range 0.36-47.1 nm) and concentration of Radon ( 222 Rn) were carried out at Pune (18° 31′ N, 73° 55′ E, 560 m above mean sea level). 222 Rn progenies measured by a Radon detector, RTM 2200, and surface meteorological parameters during the period January 2012 to December 2012 were analysed. During this period, NPF events were observed on 28 days and 222 days were without any event (non-event). NPF events mostly occurred by photochemistry in the morning hours of the pre-monsoon season (~ 62%) during the hottest months (April and May) of the year. Authors studied different features of new particle formation (NPF) events, and their dependence on meteorological parameters. The annual mean diurnal variations of different categories of ions show a primary maximum in the morning hour along with the secondary maxima in the evening hour and a minimum in the afternoon. The results are explained in terms of the atmospheric boundary layer changes and katabatic wind blowing along the hill slope surrounded by the measurement site. The computed ion production rate correlates (correlation coefficient R = 0.67) well with the observed small cluster ions. Also, the role of temperature and humidity on the ion concentration on both for the event and non-event days are discussed. Using the principal component analysis (PCA), the first five principal components were found to represent more than 98% of the total variance on event and non-event days. Even the first principal component explained about ~ 86% (65%) of the total variance on non-event (event) days. The statistical analysis also confirms that the small and large-ions on non-event days originated from a similar physical/chemical background.

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“…The ionization produced by GCRs may enhance the formation and growth of new particles by the process of ion-induced nucleation (Svensmark et al, 2016;Yu, 2002;Yu & Luo, 2009). Cosmic ray-lightning correlations on the 11-year sunspot cycle have been reported for decades (reviews by Brooks, 1934;Herman & Goldberg, 1978, section 3.4.4;Kumar et al, 2018), but the reports differ regionally and with time. Among the attempts to search for the long-term relation between lightning rates and solar cycles, both in-phase (Schlegel et al, 2001;Stringfellow, 1974) and antiphase (Chronis, 2009;Pinto Neto et al, 2013) relations have been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Latitude Lightning Activity Responses to Cosmic Ray Forbush Decreases

Zhang

Tinsley

Zhou

2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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The relation between low latitude lightning activity and Forbush decreases (FDs) of galactic cosmic rays was studied, with flash rates observed by the Lightning Image Sensor aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite and FDs selected from the events with decreases more than 2% measured by the Mexico City neutron monitor. The effect of spacecraft precession on Lightning Image Sensor data complicates the analysis, but this can be dealt with by the approach we use. Applying a superposed epoch analysis to all of the 70 FD cases, we found the low latitude lightning activity decreases by about 10% after the Forbush minimum, with a 95% confidence level tested by Monte Carlo simulation, and recovers 3 days later. The response is more significant in the Southern Hemisphere. Our result provides evidence for a proposed link between solar activity, cosmic rays, the global atmospheric electric circuit, and cloud microphysics.

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Lightning Discharges, Cosmic Rays and Climate

Cited by 18 publications

References 306 publications

Short‐Fractional Hop Whistler Rate Observed by the Low‐Altitude Satellite DEMETER at the End of the Solar Cycle 23

Short‐Fractional Hop Whistler Rate Observed by the Low‐Altitude Satellite DEMETER at the End of the Solar Cycle 23

Analysis of Positive and Negative Atmospheric Air Ions During New Particle Formation (NPF) Events over Urban City of India

Low Latitude Lightning Activity Responses to Cosmic Ray Forbush Decreases

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