Lightning in the Arctic

World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) data on global lightning are used to investigate the increase of total lightning strokes at Arctic latitudes. We use the summertime data from June, July, and August (JJA) which average >200,000 strokes each year above 65°N for the years 2010–2020. We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2021-04, Vol.48 (7), p.n/a
Main Authors: Holzworth, Robert H., Brundell, James B., McCarthy, Michael P., Jacobson, Abram R., Rodger, Craig J., Anderson, Todd S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arctic warming
global anomaly
lightning rate
WWLLN
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Summary:World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) data on global lightning are used to investigate the increase of total lightning strokes at Arctic latitudes. We use the summertime data from June, July, and August (JJA) which average >200,000 strokes each year above 65°N for the years 2010–2020. We minimize the possible influence of WWLLN network detection efficiency increases by normalizing our results to the total global strokes during northern summer each year. The ratio of strokes occurring above a given latitude, compared to total global strokes, increases with time, indicating that the Arctic is becoming more influenced by lightning. We compare the increasing fraction of strokes with the NOAA global temperature anomaly, and find that the fraction of strokes above 65°N to total global strokes increases linearly with the temperature anomaly and grew by a factor of 3 as the anomaly increased from 0.65°C to 0.95°C. Plain Language Summary Global Lightning location data from 2010 – 2020 are used to show that the number of strokes in the Arctic above 65N is increasing. We show that the increase in the fraction of strokes in the Arctic compared to total global strokes is well correlated with the global temperature anomaly. Key Points Over the last decade the number of lightning strokes in the arctic has increased dramatically The fraction of lightning strokes above 65° latitude is an increasing fraction of all global lightning Fraction of strokes above 65° compared to total global strokes is shown to closely follow the global temperature anomaly
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2020GL091366