A projected decrease in lightning under climate change

Lightning strongly influences atmospheric chemistry1–3, and impacts the frequency of natural wildfires 4 . Most previous studies project an increase in global lightning with climate change over the coming century1,5–7, but these typically use parameterizations of lightning that neglect cloud ice fluxes, a component generally considered to be fundamental to thunderstorm charging 8 . As such, the response of lightning to climate change is uncertain. Here, we compare lightning projections for 2100 using two parameterizations: the widely used cloud-top height (CTH) approach 9 , and a new upward cloud ice flux (IFLUX) approach 10 that overcomes previous limitations. In contrast to the previously reported global increase in lightning based on CTH, we find a 15% decrease in total lightning flash rate with IFLUX in 2100 under a strong global warming scenario. Differences are largest in the tropics, where most lightning occurs, with implications for the estimation of future changes in tropospheric ozone and methane, as well as differences in their radiative forcings. These results suggest that lightning schemes more closely related to cloud ice and microphysical processes are needed to robustly estimate future changes in lightning and atmospheric composition. It has been suggested that lightning activity will increase with anthropogenic warming. However, the use of a physically based lightning parameterization—incorporating cloud ice fluxes—reveals global flash rates in 2100 may decrease by 15% under RCP8.5.