Electrification of volcanic plumes

Volcanic lightning, perhaps the most spectacular consequence of the electrification of volcanic plumes, has been implicated in the origin of life on Earth, and may also exist in other planetary atmospheres. Recent years have seen volcanic lightning detection used as part of a portfolio of developing techniques to monitor volcanic eruptions. Remote sensing measurement techniques have been used to monitor volcanic lightning, but surface observations of the atmospheric electric Potential Gradient (PG) and the charge carried on volcanic ash also show that many volcanic plumes, whilst not sufficiently electrified to produce lightning, have detectable electrification exceeding that of their surrounding environment. Electrification has only been observed associated with ash-rich explosive plumes, but there is little evidence that the composition of the ash is critical to its occurrence. Different conceptual theories for charge generation and separation in volcanic plumes have been developed to explain the disparate observations obtained, but the ash fragmentation mechanism appears to be a key parameter. It is unclear which mechanisms or combinations of electrification mechanisms dominate in different circumstances. Electrostatic forces play an important role in modulating the dry fall-out of ash from a volcanic plume. Beyond the local electrification of plumes, the higher stratospheric particle concentrations following a large explosive eruption may affect the global atmospheric electrical circuit. It is possible that this might present another, if minor, way by which large volcanic eruptions affect global climate. The direct hazard of volcanic lightning to communities is generally low compared to other aspects of volcanic activity.     

Atmospheric Electrification in the Solar System

Atmospheric electrification is not a purely terrestrial phenomenon: all Solar System planetary atmospheres become slightly electrified by cosmic ray ionisation. There is evidence for lightning on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and it is possible on Mars, Venus and Titan. Controversy surrounds the role of atmospheric electricity in physical climate processes on Earth; here, a comparative approach is employed to review the role of electrification in the atmospheres of other planets and their moons. This paper reviews the theory, and, where available, measurements, of planetary atmospheric electricity which is taken to include ion production and ion–aerosol interactions. The conditions necessary for a planetary atmospheric electric circuit similar to Earth’s, and the likelihood of meeting these conditions in other planetary atmospheres, are briefly discussed. Atmospheric electrification could be important throughout the solar system, particularly at the outer planets which receive little solar radiation, increasing the relative significance of electrical forces. Nucleation onto atmospheric ions has been predicted to affect the evolution and lifetime of haze layers on Titan, Neptune and Triton. Atmospheric electrical processes on Titan, before the arrival of the Huygens probe, are summarised. For planets closer to Earth, heating from solar radiation dominates atmospheric circulations. However, Mars may have a global circuit analogous to the terrestrial model, but based on electrical discharges from dust storms. There is an increasing need for direct measurements of planetary atmospheric electrification, in particular on Mars, to assess the risk for future unmanned and manned missions. Theoretical understanding could be increased by cross-disciplinary work to modify and update models and parameterisations initially developed for a specific atmosphere, to make them more broadly applicable to other planetary atmospheres.     

Some observations of bipolar flashes during summer thunderstorms near Warsaw

Lightning discharges monitored by the SAFIR network system in Poland have been additionally identified over the 100×100 km area near Warsaw by single-point independent recordings of electric field and Maxwell current rapid changes. The data collected in summer thunderstorm days of 2002 showed some untypical properties of the lightning discharges which are rarely observed. Especially remarkable was a number of ground multi-stroke flashes with the return strokes (RS) which transported to the earth charges of opposite signs. Bipolar flashes (BF) of this kind were mostly involved in the events in which the nearby intracloud (ic) and cloud-to-ground (c-g) discharges were very closely associated in time. Events of such a close collocation of two different types of lightning discharges, previously called the complex lightning discharge events (CLDE), were quite often observed during summer thunderstorms in Poland. The events of this kind, i.e. 8 flashes, identified by the SAFIR detection system as BF’s present the multiple stroke flashes of the mean horizontal separation distance between striking points of particular RS equal to (2.8 ± 2.1) km and of the mean time interval between strokes of (46.8 ± 74.4) ms. The time separation between the observed BF and the adjacent ic flashes was from 0.1 to 335 ms, and horizontal separation distance between them ranged from 1.8 to 14.5 km. The multiplicity of the recorded BF’s ranged from 2 to 4 strokes. Four of these BF’s followed the ic discharge, but the other three preceded the ic and one was alone with no close ic.     

洛阳地区雷暴活动规律和雷灾分析

利用洛阳市及9县10个观测站1966-2005年的雷暴观测资料,统计分析了洛阳地区雷暴活动时空分布特征,结果显示:洛阳地区雷暴时空分布很不均匀,栾川、嵩县、孟津偏多,宜阳、新安、汝阳偏少,南北多中部少;20世纪60年代中期到70年代雷暴日数偏多,80年代至今雷暴日数偏少,但从80年代开始,洛阳地区雷暴日数有缓慢上升的趋势,年际变化幅度大,季节性特点非常明显,集中出现在4-9月,而夏季雷暴日数接近全年的80%。洛阳地区雷击人员伤亡事件主要发生在农村,造成的财产损失主要在市区,近年来雷击次数及所造成的损失呈上升趋势。     

THE STATISTIC RELATION BETWEEN LIGHTNING AND CINRAD DOPPLER RADAR ECHOES IN CENTRAL GUANGDONG

Based on the CINRAD Doppler radar data in Guangzhou and the lightning data in 2004 by power suppliers of Guangdong, statistical study is done by overlaying lightning’s position on radar’s echo. The result shows the followings. The concentrated period in which more negative lightning occurred at the middle levels (2 – 14 km), where radar echo was moderate (12 – 45 dBz), rather than at the low levels with the weakest echoes or at high levels with the strongest echoes. At levels 3 – 11 km, where the radar echo was between 10 dBz and 35 dBz, the area of negative lightning was much larger in central Guangdong than in the rest of the province. At levels 0.5 – 7 km where the radar echoes were between 44 dBz and 51 dBz, the probability for a point to have negative lightning varies from 0.4 to 0.7.     

玛纳斯河流域雷暴气候特征及防雷应用

选取玛纳斯河流域中上游和中下游4个气象站1970—2005年的雷暴气候资料进行统计分析,总结出玛纳斯河流域雷暴活动的气候特征,并根据其活动规律提出防御雷电灾害的几项事宜。     

普通居民住宅防雷设计初探

对普通居民住宅的防雷措施进行分析,并阐述防雷措施的有关做法。     

雷暴云电结构与闪电关系初探

利用雷暴云偶极性电结构理论,结合卫星和雷达资料分析了不同荷电结构下地面电场。结果表明:当正电荷中心高度越高、负电荷中心高度越低,形成的地面负电场越大,越有利于地闪的形成;负地闪发生后或云砧下方,地面电场成正极性,易引发正地闪;地闪分布与雷达回波、卫星云图中雷暴云位置基本一致,结合雷达和卫星资料可初步判断正/负地闪发生位置。     

中国内陆高原正极性雷电的观测实验研究

叙述了１９９７年夏季中日两国科学家在甘肃平凉地区合作进行的有关正极性雷电的综合观测实验情况,包括地布局,所采用的技术手 取得的主要结果。实验中采用人工引发雷电技术并取得了两次成功,其中一次是利用“空中解发”方式,即火箭拖带的细钢丝下端不直接接地,而是通过一段绝缘尼龙线与接地的另一段细钢丝相连。用这种方式可以更真实地再现自然雷电的初始过程。实验中观测到了空中导线两端先导的双向传输现象;电流、电场变化     

地球-电离层空腔舒曼共振日变化特征分析

全球雷电活动在地球-电离层空腔中产生的极低频(ELF)信号干涉叠加,在一系列固定频率上产生舒曼共振(SR)。利用2012年5月以色列Mitzpe-Roman(MR)站ELF水平磁场资料,采用频谱变换、时间平均、分析了实测SR日变化信号的时域和频域特征。同时基于全球ELF传播模式,利用OTD/LIS雷电卫星资料模拟了5~30 Hz磁场功率谱日变化情况。结果表明:时域背景信号幅值的均值和偏差满足正态分布的期望和标准差;水平磁场前三阶SR谐振频率非常稳定,月平均下的谐振频率日变化相对8、14、20 Hz理论值的偏移量分别不超过0.3 Hz、0.55 Hz和0.6 Hz。东南亚和美洲地区雷电活动主要响应于南北磁场分量第一阶SR的07—09时和19—22时时段内。而东西磁场分量前三阶SR在12—15时时段内都对非洲地区雷电活动有指示作用。磁场功率谱日变化模拟结果与实测基本一致,表明利用单站正交磁天线的不同阶SR信号能够指示全球不同"热斑"区域的雷电活动。