Lightning is the energetic manifestation of electrical breakdown, occurring after charge separation processes operating on micro and macro-scales, leading to strong electric fields within thunderstorms. Lightning is associated with severe weather, torrential rains and flash floods. It has significant effects on various atmospheric layers and drives the fair-weather electric field. It is a strong indicator of convective processes on regional and global scales, potentially associated with climate change. Thunderstorms and lightning are also associated to the production of energetic radiation up to tens of MeV on time scales from sub-millisecond (Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes) to tens of seconds (gamma-ray glows).

This session seeks contributions from research in atmospheric electricity on:

Atmospheric electricity in fair weather and the global electrical circuit
Atmospheric chemical effects of lightning and Lightning-produced NOx
Middle atmospheric Transient Luminous Events
Energetic radiation from thunderstorms and lightning
Remote sensing of lightning from space and by lightning detection networks
Results from the Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) mission.
Thunderstorms, flash floods and severe weather
Lightning and electrical phenomena on other planets
Lightning, tropical storms and climate
Modeling of thunderstorms and lightning
Now-casting and forecasting of thunderstorms
Laboratory investigation of lightning discharge physics processes