Why is there less lightning over the sea than on land?

Strong storms at sea are accompanied by considerably less lightning than when a similar storm breaks out over land. An investigation has sought the explanation to this mystery and has found it.

The study has been carried out by the team of Daniel Rosenfeld and Zengxin Pan, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The team focused on the role of aerosols in regulating the amount of electrical activity manifested in the form of lightning and the amount of rain produced by clouds.

The study authors have determined that the size of the aerosol particles is the key to everything. The aerosol present over the sea has larger particles than the aerosol present over land. This larger particle size of the marine aerosol reduces the number of lightning strikes by up to 90 percent, while aerosols with small particles increase the number of lightning strikes. Particle size also affects precipitation.

The results of the study clearly indicate that the role of aerosols in clouds needs to be incorporated into climate models.

Lightning in Jerusalem. (Photo: Daniel Rosenfeld/Hebrew University

What was discovered by Rosenfeld and Pan’s team finally explains the enigma of why there is more lightning on land than on the sea and allows ruling out the hypothesis that the less presence of lightning in marine storms was due to the fact that the air was cleaner on the sea than on dry land.

The study is titled “Coarse sea spray inhibits lightning.” And it has been published in the academic journal Nature Communications. (Font: NCYT by Amazings)