Thunderstorms often pose a significant risk to human life and damage to property and infrastructures through lightning, fast floods from heavy precipitation, hail and strong winds. On the other hand, lightning-induced wildfires (LIWs) are a central component of the fire regime in remote and mountainous regions, as well as a major component of wildfire crises, large wildfires and extreme fire events across the world. In addition, lightning strikes are a significant cause of tree mortality, especially in tropical forests. Therefore, lightning and thunderstorms not only cause direct and highly localized, short-term impacts, but lightning can have large and long-term effects on ecosystems and society.
We invite scientists interested in the relationships between lightning, environment and other natural hazards such as lightning fires and severe thunderstorms. We encourage researchers studying lightning-related topics with potential implications for humans and ecosystems to participate in this session. Thus, this session aims to gather a diverse profile of researchers to increase the awareness of the environmental aspects of lightning and multi-hazard interactions, as well as to identify research gaps, synergies and opportunities for future collaborations. We welcome diverse scientific contributions including (but not restricted to):
• Description of lightning occurrence, climatology, statistics, and associated environmental characteristics.
• Modeling, projections and nowcasting of lightning occurrence and thunderstorms.
• Lightning-induced wildfires, including their ignition, drivers, behavior, detection and modeling, extreme fires, dry lightning and long continuing current, natural fire regime in remote and populated regions, pyrocumulonimbus and lightning, etc.
• Lightning detection networks, observation of lightning, including from space-based sensors, and lightning, thunderstorm and lightning fire data products.
• Thunderstorms tracking, dynamics, types, behavior and severe weather.
• Impacts of lightning on ecosystems and society, such as tree injuries and mortality, effects of LIWs on the carbon cycle and climate feedbacks, human and animal causalities, and damages to infrastructures.