Evidence of anthropogenic increase of lightning over the Amazon

Recent observational and modeling progresses have shown that aerosols can strongly affect storm's lightning activity under the right circumstances. In this study we utilize data from TRMM, MODIS and MERRA reanalysis to show that anthropogenic aerosols over the Amazon have profoundly changed storm electrification at a large scale. We will show observational evidence of how storm structure changes in response to aerosols using space-borne radar. We will also examine the effect of aerosols on macroscopic features of deep convective cloud objects by looking at a large sample of clouds. Important meteorological factors such as wind shear, CAPE and stability will be controlled in the analysis to best single out the aerosol influence. Our results indicate a clear influence of aerosols on both micro- and macro- properties of deep convective clouds over the Amazon.