Scientists have found that air pollution increases danger of thunderstorms
By Alimat Aliyeva
American scientists from James Madison University have discovered a link between air pollution and the intensity of thunderstorms in the summer, Azernews reports.
During the three-year project, the authors studied about 200 thousand thunderstorms in the Washington, D.C. area and more than 300 thousand thunderstorms in Kansas.
Using lightning data from the National Lightning Detection Network and information from air pollution control stations, the researchers determined that in conditions of high instability, an increase in atmospheric aerosol concentrations leads to more lightning strikes.
According to scientists, air pollutants enter the clouds through an updraft. There, the particles separate electric charges, increasing the number of lightning bolts.
Experts also conducted a similar study in Bangkok, a megalopolis with a high level of air pollution, located in a tropical climate. The analysis showed a similar pattern, adjusted for hotter and wetter conditions.
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