Cloud electrification process

AVILA, ELDO EDGARDO; CASTELLANO, NESVIT; SAUNDERS, CLIVE; BÜRGESSER, RODRIGO EXEQUIEL; PEREYRA, RODOLFO GUILLERMO

Collioure

Congreso; 2nd TEA-IS Summer School; 2014

The electrification of clouds is a result of the relative displacement of positive and negative electric charge at the molecular scale and the subsequent macroscopic separation of opposite charge by air and particle motions. Observations within thunderstorms reveal the existence of electric charges carried on precipitation, cloud particles, aerosol particles and free ions; these particles are present in varying concentrations and move with their own terminal velocities as well as being transported by the complicated convective air currents of the thunderstorm. The complexity is further increased because the charged precipitation and cloud particles may be present as liquid water or in many different ice forms. Therefore, it must be established which of these charges are responsible for the high electric fields required to initiate lightning, and then we can consider how these charges are acquired and separated.