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A review of atmospheric electricity research in China

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Abstract

The importance of atmospheric electricity research has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. Research on atmospheric electricity has been actively conducted since the 1980s in China. Lightning physics and its effects, as important branches of atmospheric electricity, have received more attention because of their significance both in scientific research and lightning protection applications. This paper reviews atmospheric electricity research based primarily on ground-based field experiments at different regions in China in the last decade. The results described in this review include physics and effects of lightning, rocket-triggered lightning and its physical processes of discharge, thunderstorm electricity on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas, lightning activity associated with severe convective storms, the effect and response of lightning to climate change, numerical simulation of thunderstorm electrification and lightning discharge, lightning detection and location techniques, and transient luminous events above thunderstorms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Middle Atmosphere and Global Environment Observation, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xiushu Qie & Jing Yang

  2. Laboratory of Lightning Physics and Protection Engineering, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yijun Zhang & Weitao Lu

  3. College of Atmospheric Science, Lanzhou University, Gansu, 730000, China

    Tie Yuan

  4. College of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Qilin Zhang

  5. Laboratory for Climate Environment and Disasters of Western China, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Tinglong Zhang

  6. School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Baoyou Zhu & Ming Ma

  7. College of Atmospheric Sciences, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, 610225, China

    Yunjun Zhou

  8. Shandong Research Institute of Meteorology, Jinan, 250031, China

    Guili Feng

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  1. Xiushu Qie
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Qie, X., Zhang, Y., Yuan, T. et al. A review of atmospheric electricity research in China. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 32, 169–191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-014-0003-z

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