Where Does Lightning Come From? Increased Lightning Strikes Tied To Faster Solar Wind

Scientists have discovered new evidence to suggest that lightning on Earth is triggered not only by cosmic rays from space, but also by energetic particles from the Sun University of Reading researchers found a link between increased thunderstorm activity on Earth and streams of high-energy particles accelerated by the solar wind, offering compelling evidence that particles from space help trigger lightning bolts. Publishing their study today, 15 May 2014, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, researchers from Reading's Department of Meteorology found a substantial and significant increase in lightning rates across Europe for up to 40 days after the arrival of high-speed solar winds, which can travel at more than a million miles per hour, into Earth's atmosphere. Although the exact mechanism that causes these changes remains unknown, the researchers propose that the electrical properties of the air are somehow altered as the incoming charged particles from the solar wind collide with the atmosphere. The results could prove useful for weather forecasters, since these solar wind streams rotate with the Sun, sweeping past Earth at regular intervals, accelerating particles into Earth's atmosphere.



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