Thunder and lightning—what determines where and when thunderstorms occur?

Abstract

Where and when thunderstorms occur is a topic of considerable practical importance for human society on which some meteorologists and atmospheric and space scientists carry out research. Owens et al (2104 Environ. Res. Lett. 9 115009) have found that the occurrence of lightning over the UK is up to ∼50% greater than usual when the magnetic field outside the Earth's magnetosphere, in interplanetary space, points towards the Sun rather than away from it. But why this happens is not yet totally clear.Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Spatial and temporal distribution of lightning strokes over North Asia and its comparison with solar activity variations in 2009–2016

“…It is important to determine the contribution of space weather to lightning activity, ignoring tropospheric processes [Rycroft, 2014]. Observations in different regions over the world show diverse but certain influence of solar activity on lightning activity.…”