Synergic impact of Aerosols and Humidity on Lightning Activity: Inference from Global Study

Abstract The study analysed the impact of aerosol (represented by aerosol optical depth, AOD) and relative humidity (RH) on lightning activities (LA) for distinct five locations around the world: South Africa (R1, 5⁰N to -1⁰S, 9⁰E to 18⁰E), North-western South America (R2, 2⁰N to 5⁰S, -77⁰W to -67⁰W), Indonesia (R3, 10⁰N to 17.5⁰N, 100⁰E to 109⁰E), South America (R4, 31⁰S to 21⁰S, -61⁰W to -53⁰W) and North America (R5, 29⁰N to 34⁰N, -96⁰W to -81⁰W). Based on the study, it was found that the LA is not uniformly associated with AOD or RH individually, rather their synergic impact defines the LA. Results reveal that the association between RH and LA is weaker when AOD is high, such as for regions R1 and R3, whereas it was substantially intense when RH dominates (regions R4 and R5). Based on the study, it was concluded that the humidity per aerosol is critical in lightning formation and is more effective in assessment of the LA than aerosol or humidity alone.