The mechanism of lightning
that ignites a forest fire and the lightning that occurs above a forest fire
are explained at the molecular level. It is based on two phenomena, namely,
internal charge separation inside the atmospheric cloud particles and the existence
of a layer of positively charged hydrogen atoms sticking out of the surface of
the liquid layer of water on the surface of rimers. Strong turbulence-driven
collisions of the ice particles and water droplets with the rimers give rise to
breakups of the ice particles and water droplets into positively and negatively
charged fragments leading to charge separation. Hot weather in a forest
contributes to the updraft of hot and humid air, which follows the same
physical/chemical processes of normal lightning proposed and explained recently[1]. Lightning would have a high probability of lighting up and burning the
dry biological materials in the ground of the forest, leading to a forest
(wild) fire. The burning of trees and other plants would release a lot of heat
and moisture together with a lot of smoke particles (aerosols) becoming a
strong updraft. The condition for creating lightning is again satisfied which
would result in further lightning high above the forest wild fire.
References
[1]
Chin, S.L., Guo, X., Schroeder, H., Song, D., Xia, A., Kong, F., Xu, H., Wang, T.-J., and Li, R. (2023) Charging Mechanism of Lightning at the Molecular Level. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 13, 415-430. https://doi.org/10.4236/acs.2023.134023
[2]
Climenhaga, C. (2023) Fire from Fire: How Wildfires Can Create Their Own Weather and Lightning. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fire-from-fire-how-wildfires-can-create-their-own-weather-and-lightning-1.6837783
[3]
Chin, S.L., Guo, X., Xu, H., Kong, F., Xia, A., Zhao, H., Song, D., Wang, T.-J., Li, G.-Y., Du, S.-Z., Ju, J., Sun, H., Liu, J., Li, R. and Xu, Z. (2019) An Attempt to Explain Rain Gush Formation: The Ionic Wind Approach. Plasma Research Express, 1, Article 035013. https://doi.org/10.1088/2516-1067/ab41e1
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Wallace, J.M. and Hobbs, P.V. (2006) Atmospheric Science, an Introductory Survey. 2nd Edition, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
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Wang, P.K. (2013) Physics and Dynamics of Clouds and Precipitation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 167-171. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511794285
[6]
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[7]
Gebhardt, C.R., Schroeder, H. and Kompa, K.-L. (1999) Surface Impact Ionization of Polar-Molecule Clusters through Pickup of Alkali Atoms. Nature, 400, 544-547. https://doi.org/10.1038/22984
[8]
Gebhardt, C.R., Witte, T. and Kompa, K.-L. (2003) Direct Observation of Charge-Transfer Reactions in Nanoscopic Test Tubes: Self-Ionization in HNO3 Clusters. ChemPhysChem, 3, 308-312. https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.200390052
[9]
Saunders, C.P.R. (1993) A Review of Thunderstorm Electrification Processes, Journal Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 32, 642-655. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1993)032<0642:AROTEP>2.0.CO;2
[10]
Berdeklis, P. and List, R. (2001) The Ice Crystal-Graupel Collision Charging Mechanism of Thunderstorm Electrification. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 58, 2751-2770. https://doi:10.1175/1520-0469(2001)058<2751:TICGCC>2.0.CO;2
[11]
Mason, B.L. and Dash, J.G. (2000) Charge and Mass Transfer in Ice-Ice Collisions: Experimental Observations of a Mechanism in Thunderstorm Electrification. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 10185-10192. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900104
[12]
Dash, J.G., Mason, B.L. and Wettlaufer, J.S. (2001) Theory of Charge and Mass Transfer in Ice-Ice Collisions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 106, 20395-20402. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD900109
[13]
Yair, Y. (2008) Charge Generation and Separation Processes. Space Science Reviews, 137, 119-131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-008-9348-x
[14]
Hu, J., Wang, X., Zhao, S., Wang, Z., Yang, J., Dai, G., Xie, Y., Zhu, X., Liu, D., Hou, X., Liu, J. and Chen, W. (2023) Spaceborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar for Atmospheric Aerosols and Clouds Profiles Measurement. Acta Optica Sinica, 43, Article 1899901. (in Chinese with English Summary) https://dx.doi.org/10.3788/AOS231437
[15]
Houard, A., Walch, P., Produit, T., Moreno, V., Mahieu, B., Sunjerga, A., Herkommer, C., Mostajabi, A., Andral, U., André, Y.-B., Lozano, M., Bizet, L., Schroeder, M.C., Schimmel, G., Moret, M., Stanley, M., Rison, W.A., Maurice, O., Esmiller, B., Michel, K., Haas, W., Metzger, T., Rubinstein, M., Rachidi, F., Cooray, V., Mysyrowicz, A., Kasparian J. and Wolf, J.-P. (2023) Laser-Guided Lightning. Nature Photonics, 17, 231-235. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-01139-z
