<
https://www.sciencealert.com/lightning-over-shipping-lanes-suddenly-halved-following-new-regulations>
"If you look at a map of lightning near the Port of Singapore, you'll notice an
odd streak of intense lightning activity right over the busiest shipping lane
in the world. As it turns out, the lightning really is responding to the ships,
or rather the tiny particles they emit.
Using data from a global lightning detection network, my colleagues and I have
been studying how exhaust plumes from ships are associated with an increase in
the frequency of lightning.
For decades, ship emissions steadily rose as increasing global trade drove
higher ship traffic. Then, in 2020, new international regulations cut ships'
sulfur emissions by 77 percent.
Our newly published research shows how lightning over shipping lanes dropped by
half almost overnight after the regulations went into effect.
That unplanned experiment demonstrates how thunderstorms, which can be 10 miles
tall, are sensitive to the emission of particles that are smaller than a grain
of sand.
The responsiveness of lightning to human pollution helps us get closer to
understanding a long-standing mystery: To what extent, if any, have human
emissions influenced thunderstorms?"
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
