UPDATED - Lightning, Ozone and Climate Change

Date: Wednesday 8 April 2020

Time: 18:30 - 20:30


School of Earth and Environment
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT



Please be aware this meeting has now been cancelled due to COVID-19. Please keep updated on our event website.

SPEAKER| Dr Declan Finney, University of Leeds

ABSTRACT| Anyone who has seen lightning knows what an explosive process it is. That thunder you hear is a shock wave caused by rapid expansion of the air heated to thousands of degrees. At such high temperatures, chemical reactions start to occur in the air and lead to lightning being a key control on ozone in the lower atmosphere. Ozone is harmful to humans and plants and is also a greenhouse gas. In addition to the risks humans face from lightning, there are multiple other impacts of this atmospheric phenomenon. For a few decades, researchers have been trying to predict how lightning activity will respond to climate change. Recent studies have called into doubt previous perspectives which expected the number of lightning flashes to increase. This talk will offer detail on the chemical impacts of lightning, as well as bring together the current knowledge on the response of lightning to climate change.