Clim Dyn
DOI 10.1007/s00382-017-3851-2
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic
Plain (IGP), India
D. M. Lal1,2 · Sachin D. Ghude1 · M. Mahakur1 · R. T. Waghmare1 · S. Tiwari1 ·
Manoj K. Srivastava2 · G. S. Meena1 · D. M. Chate1 
Received: 27 March 2017 / Accepted: 1 August 2017
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017
Abstract  The relationship between aerosol and lightning
over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India has been evalu-
ated by utilising aerosol optical depth (AOD), cloud droplet
effective radius and cloud fraction from Moderate Resolu-
tion Imaging Spectroradiometer. Lightning flashes have been
observed by the lightning Imaging sensor on the board of
Tropical Rainfall and Measuring Mission and humidity from
modern-era retrospective-analysis for research and applica-
tions for the period of 2001–2012. In this study, the role of
aerosol in lightning generation over the north-west sector
of IGP has been revealed. It is found that lightning activity
increases (decreases) with increasing aerosols during nor-
mal (deficient) monsoon rainfall years. However, lightning
increases with increasing aerosol during deficient rainfall
years when the average value of AOD is less than 0.88. We
have found that during deficient rainfall years the moisture
content of the atmosphere and cloud fraction is smaller than
that during the years with normal or excess monsoon rainfall
over the north-west IGP. Over the north-east Bay of Bengal
and its adjoining region the variations of moisture and cloud
fraction between the deficient and normal rainfall years are
minimal. We have found that the occurrence of the light-
ning over this region is primarily due to its topography and
localised circulation. The warm-dry air approaching from
north-west converges with moist air emanating from the Bay
of Bengal causing instability that creates an environment
for deep convective cloud and lightning. The relationship
between lightning and aerosol is stronger over the north-west
* D. M. Lal
dmlal@tropmet.res.in; dmlalin@gmail.com
1
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India
2
Department of Geophysics, Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, India
sector of IGP than the north-east, whereas it is moderate
over the central IGP. We conclude that aerosol is playing a
major role in lightning activity over the north-west sector
of IGP, but, local meteorological conditions such as conver-
gences of dry and moist air is the principal cause of lightning
over the north-east sector of IGP. In addition, atmospheric
humidity also plays an important role in regulating the effect
of aerosol on the microphysical properties of clouds over
IGP region.
1 Introduction
The processes involved in generating lightning and its
association with aerosols are quite complicated. Aerosol
loading influences the cloud microphysics by reducing the
size of cloud droplet and increasing its number concen-
tration (Twomey1977; Kaufman and Fraser 1997; Bréon
et al. 2002; Feingold et al. 2003). The decrease in the size
of cloud droplet suppresses the precipitation by slowing
down the conversion of cloud droplets into raindrops.
This delay inhibits rainfall, which results in an enhance-
ment in the retention time of clouds to hold the liquid
water, thereby, increasing the lifetime of clouds and total
cloud cover. Increasing aerosol concentration increases the
fractional cloud coverage and the lifetime of the clouds
(Albrecht 1989; Feingold et al. 2001; Koren et al. 2005,
2010; Kaufman et al. 2005; Loeb and Schuster 2008; Yuan
et al. 2011; Small et al. 2011; Wang et al.2013). On the
other hand, some authors (Wen et al. 2007, 2013; Marshak
et al. 2008; Twohy et al. 2009; Varnai and Marshak 2009;
Jeong and Li 2010; Chand et al. 2012; Altaratz et al. 2013;
Varnai et al. 2013) suggested that high and deep cloud cov-
erage (fraction) generates aerosols by evaporating cloud
droplets near the edge of clouds, hence, enhanced aerosol
13
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concentration may be seen in such fraction. Further,
humidity effect swells the size of aerosol when it comes
in contact with cloud where humidity is, in general, more
than 99% overwhelm the aerosol concentration(Chand
et al. 2012; Varnai and Marshak 2009; Yuan et al. 2008;
Varnai et al. 2013). In addition, 3-D radiative effect (Wen
et al. 2007, 2008) and instrument blurring effect (Meister
and McClain 2010) bias the estimation of AOD leading
to observations of unnaturally high aerosol concentration
during the cloudy period. Yuan et al. (2008) reported a
positive correlation between cloud droplet effective radius
(DER) and aerosols, and concluded that such relation is
cause of humidity effect (aerosol swelling), three-dimen-
sional (3-D) effect, partially cloudy effect, atmospheric
dynamics and surface influence effect on aerosols.
The vital role of aerosols in regulating the convective
strength is evidently shown in some modelling and observa-
tional studies (Andreae et al. 2004; Wang 2005; Koren et al.
2005; Zhang et al. 2007; Rosenfeld et al. 2008; Wang et al.
2011). Atmospheric aerosol can be considered as a principle
cause for the invigoration of deep cloud, stronger updraft,
cloud ice and hail particles (Andreae et  al. 2004; Peng
et al. 2016). Strong updraft and deep convection, as a result
of high aerosol loadings, plays a crucial role in lightning
production, evidenced with strong positive correlation of
updraft velocity with lightning activity (Workman and Reyn-
olds 1949; Williams and Lhermitte 1983; Dye et al. 1989;
Carey and Rutledge 1996; Rutledge et al. 1992; Petersen
et al. 1996, 1999). Also, cloud ice has a positive correla-
tion with lightning (Blyth et al. 2001; Lal and Pawar 2009).
The hypothesis of the role of ice is that hydrometers collide
to each other causing generation of charge on ice crystals,
graupel, and liquid water inside the thundercloud (Reynolds
et al. 1957; Takahashi 1978). Whereas, the polarity of charge
on hydrometers depends on particle size, temperature, liquid
water content, condensation, evaporation and sublimation/
melting of ice (Williams et al.1991; Saunders et al. 2006).
The existing contrast in lightning frequency over land and
ocean (Zipser 1994; Williams and Stanfill 2002) is assumed
to be a cause of contrast in convection, thermodynamic and
aerosols loadings over land and ocean (Williams and Stanfill
2002; Yuan et al. 2011, 2012). Urban aerosols are another
challenge for mankind influences the lightning (Westcott
1995; Orville et al. 2001; Steiger et al. 2002; Steiger and
Orville 2003; Kar et al. 2009; Farias et al. 2009; Antonescu
and Ştefan 2011; Lal and Pawar 2011; Zhang et al. 2015).
Furthermore, Lal et al. (2013) reported that amount of high
altitude cloud fraction increases with aerosols loadings and
vice-versa over the IGP region. Increase cloud base height
increases lightning (Williams and Stanfill 2002; Williams
and Satori 2004).Thus, it is clear that aerosols variability
plays a major role in modulating frequency of lightning
activity.
13
D. M. Lal et al.
Lightning also positively correlated with convective
available potential energy (CAPE). Origination of CAPE
in the atmosphere is the cause of unsaturated air on ground
with respect to moisture. Siingh et al. (2015) have corre-
lated lightning flashes with surface temperature over the
Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, and the Bay of Bengal and
South China Sea. They found well positive correlations of
lightning flashes with surface temperature (R ~0.69, 0.66)
and CAPE (R ~0.83, 0.74). In a study over central India,
Pawar et al. (2012) have found the decisive role of CAPE
in a lightning generation. Also, Kumar and Kamra (2010)
have investigated the seasonal and inter-annual variations
in electrical activity over the Car-Nicobar, Little Andaman
and North Andaman Islands. They observed an increase in
flash density and flash rate with the increase in the area of
the island.
Local meteorological conditions are also responsible for
lightning. For example, if two streams of air (i.e. cold–moist
and dry–hot) coming from different directions are forced
to rise where they flow together or converge and form the
cloud (Met office version-1 2007, http://cedadocs.badc.
rl.ac.uk/253/1/factsheet01.pdf). Besides this, land surface
inhomogeneities, soil, mountain valley-plateau wind, ther-
mally driven wind system due to slope, etc. (Orville 1965a,
b; Raymond and Wilkening 1980; Holroyd 1982; Klitch
et al. 1985; Toth and Johnson 1985) are some other kind of
sources responsible for rising instability in the atmosphere
and assisting in the formation of clouds. Over the north-east
IGP region, most of the lightning occurs during Nor’wester
locally known “Kalbaisakhi”. Nor’wester is a severe thun-
derstorm generally originating over north and north-east
parts of India during pre-monsoon (MAM). It occurs due
to the convergence of moist air and warm-dry air (Roy and
Chatterjee 1929). During Nor’wester, heavy lightning, thun-
der, hailstorms, dust storms, squalls, etc., occurs. Occur-
rence the convection over Bihar, Jharkhand and the adjoining
states of India is due to strong heating of landmass over the
regions. Later, it moves towards the Gangetic West Bengal.
There, it gets mixed with the low level warm moist air (com-
ing from the Bay of Bengal), and gets intensified (Mukho-
padhyay et al. 2009; Tyagi et al. 2012).
Above discussion confirms that atmospheric aerosols,
local meteorological conditions and atmospheric dynam-
ics play an important role in regulating cloud microphysics
through different ways including relative humidity, updraft
velocity, instability and available precipitable water (Roy
and Chatterjee 1929; Loeb and Schuster 2008; Mukhopad-
hyay et al. 2009; Kalthoff et al. 2009; Dey et al. 2011; Tyagi
et al. 2012). Therefore, in the present study, an attempt is
made to bring-out the possible association between aero-
sols and lightning by utilising satellite data over the Indo-
Gangetic Plain (IGP). In terms of gas and aerosol loading,
IGP is one of the most polluted regions in the world (Di
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India
Girolamo et al. 2004; Ramanathan and Ramana 2005; Tri-
pathi et al. 2006; Ghude et al. 2011; Lal et al. 2012, 2013).
Lightning also enhances the N ­ Ox (Nesbitt et al. 2000; Bonda
et al. 2002). Population living along the IGP region use bio-
fuels for house-hold activities, and fossil-fuels (coal and
petrol) in industries and plant for an energy source. Exten-
sive enhancement in the use of coal and petrol increases the
pollution, thereby, aerosols loading over the region (Ram-
anathan and Ramana 2005; Tripathi et  al. 2006; Ghude
et al. 2008; Lal et al. 2012, 2013). In addition, transporta-
tion of dust aerosol from the deserts in the north-western
of India, adjoining Pakistan and Arabian Peninsula towards
the Gangetic plains and the prevailing meteorological con-
ditions are responsible for further enhancement in aerosol
loading (Middleton 1986; Prospero et al. 2002; Srivastava
et al. 2011; Lal et al. 2012, 2013). The study regarding the
impact of such aerosol on climate change and human health
over the IGP is essential on account of the fact that one-sixth
of the world population living in such small and polluted
area is directly affected.
2 Data and analysis
Used data in this study are occurrence of lightning, aero-
sol loading, clouds characteristic, and weather parameters
etc., over IGP regions for the period of 2001–2012. Aero-
sol loading is characterised by aerosol optical depth (AOD)
and widely used 550 nm wavelength. We have considered
monthly average AOD, cloud fraction and cloud-ice effective
radius data from MODIS-Terra Ver. 5.1 (MOD08_M3.051)
Level 3 with grid resolution 1° × 1°. Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a key instrument for
viewing the entire Earth’s surface on every 1–2 days, acquir-
ing data in 36 spectral bands. Lightning flash data is consid-
ered from the lightning imaging sensor (LIS) on the board
of tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) satellite,
which was launched on 28 November 1997 for collecting
globally total (intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground) lightning.
The detection efficiency of LIS is more than 90% at a spatial
resolution of 4 × 4 km2 (Christian et al. 1999). The ground
speed of LIS (TRMM Satellite) is 6.9 km s−1 and measure
the footprint up to 90 s as it passes overhead. The detec-
tion time of LIS is too small to represent the total lightning
occurred on a respective day. To overcome this problem,
we used monthly average and area average raw lightning
flash data in this study. TRMM’s 3B43_007, grid resolution
0.25° × 0.25° is also considered for monthly rainfall for the
study regions. Similarly, monthly surface temperature and
six hourly relative humidity and wind data with the resolu-
tion of 0.67° × 0.5° from Modern-era Retrospective-Analysis
for Research and Applications (MERRA) (Rienecker et al.
2011) is used in the analysis. Correspondingly, half hourly
merged infrared brightness temperature data at the spatial
resolution of 4 km from Climate Prediction Centre (CPC)
(Joyce et al. 2001) used in our analysis. Finally, we used
CAPE data from University of Wyoming (http://weather.
uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html) and from the ERA-
Interim reanalysis. ERA is a latest global atmospheric rea-
nalysis produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) provide the data since 1979
and updates continuously. Monthly averaged CAPE data is
considered for the period of 2001–2012.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Area selection
Indo-Gangetic Plain has been considered to bring out the
role of aerosol on lightning. The distributions of average
surface temperature and aerosols over the region, for the year
2010, as discussed in Sect. 3.4.2, are shown in Fig. 1. In this
figure, the yearly averaged surface temperature ~300 K over
the eastern part of Rajasthan, Kolkata, Jharkhand, north-
eastern part of India, some parts of Odisha and western pen-
insula can be seen (Fig. 1a). During pre-monsoon, increased
homogeneous surface temperature (up to ~305 K) over the
entire part of northern India including IGP region, north-
west India, Central India, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh,
whereas nearly 300 K temperature over Kerala, can be seen.
During monsoon period, the surface temperature ~305 K
over Pakistan and western part of Rajasthan and Punjab, and
nearly 300 K over the western peninsula, north-east India
and Odisha has been noticed (Fig. 1c). It is noteworthy that
temperature over IGP region in north-India is either uniform
or having less variation during monsoon period and pre-
monsoon period.
In the case of aerosol distribution, annually averaged high
aerosol concentration (aerosol optical depth, AOD) range
0.6–0.7 over IGP region can be seen (Fig. 1d). The AOD
over Odisha and eastern part of the peninsula is observed
in between 0.4 and 0.6. During pre-monsoon, the aerosol
concentration (AOD) range 0.5–0.6 over north-west IGP,
Mumbai and eastern part of coastal region i.e. Odisha and
Andhra Pradesh with higher AOD range 0.6–0.7 over north-
east IGP (i.e. Kolkata) can be seen (Fig. 1e). Contrarily, the
higher AOD (0.9–1) during monsoon period over north-west
IGP and Pakistan has been found (Fig. 1f). White-shaded
areas correspond to the lack of MODIS-Terra input aerosol
data in the figure. Both aerosol (Rosenfeld et al. 2008, 2012)
and surface temperature (Price 1993) are playing an impor-
tant role in modification of cloud causing lightning in the
atmosphere. Since, both (aerosol and surface temperature)
are acting simultaneously on lightning in the atmosphere;
it is difficult to distinguish the role of either temperature
13
 D. M. Lal et al.

Fig. 1  Map showing spatial distribution of surface temperature for a yearly average for 2010 b pre-monsoon period c monsoon period (overlaid
contour line shows temperature in °K), and aerosol d yearly average 2010 e pre-monsoon period f monsoon period (bar scale shows AOD)

or aerosol on lightning individually. IGP, with mostly uni-
form temperature regime during the pre-monsoon period and
monsoon period, is, however, a suitable place to overcome
this problem, and so, to bring out the role of aerosol on
lightning, individually. Based on spatio-temporal variation
in rainfall, population density, temperature, aerosol load-
ing and lightning, we have selected three regions namely (i)
north-west: R1 (Lat. 27–32°N, Long. 74–79°E), (ii) middle:
R2 (Lat. 23–28°N, Long. 79–84°E) and north-east: R3 (Lat.
20–26°N, Long. 84–89°E) over the IGP, for the analysis, and
shown in Fig. 2.
3.2 Climatology of AOD and lighting over the study
area
Climatology (2001–2012) of AOD and lightning over the
R1, R2 and R3 region during monsoon (JJAS), pre-monsoon
(MAM) and annual is shown in Fig. 3a–c respectively. It
can be seen that average AOD over the region R1 ~0.52,
is high as compared to AOD observed over the regions R2
(~0.49) and R3 (~0.48) (Fig. 3c). During pre-monsoon,
AOD over the region R1, R2 and R3 are ~0.47, ~0.45 and
~0.46, respectively (Fig. 3b), and during monsoon period

13
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India

Fig. 2  Study area over IGP

mentioned as R1, R2 and R3
with wind streamline for 25
May 2002 at 250 hPa (bar
colour code scale shows wind
speed m/s)

Fig. 3  Yearly and area aver-

aged AOD (gray shade bar
with horizontal line) and total
lightning (red bar with diagonal
line) during the period of
2001–2012 over north-west:
R1 (27–32°N, 74–79°E), mid-
dle: R2 (23–28°N, 79–84°E)
and north-east: R3 (20–26°N,
84–89°E) of IGP, India during
a monsoon period JJAS, b pre-
monsoon MAM and c annual
averages (vertical bar shows the
standard deviation)

these are ~0.68, ~0.59 and ~0.56, respectively (Fig. 3a).
It is worth to note that the aerosol concentrations during
the pre-monsoon season over all the three regions are less
as compared to those during monsoon season (Fig. 3a, b).
The annual average total lightning flashes over the regions
R1, R2 and R3 are observed 8658.54, 4397.23 and 7668.15,
respectively during the same period (Fig. 3c). It can also be
seen that occurrence of lightning over R1 is more compared
R2 and R3, where R2 is the lowest. Similarly, lightning over
R1, R2 and R3 during monsoon period is 4593.69, 2272

13

and 3342.69 (Fig. 3a), and during the pre-monsoon period
is 3422.69, 1751.31 and 3726.23 respectively (Fig. 3b). It
shows that region R1 and R3 are lightning prone zones.
3.3 Seasonal Variations of AOD and Lightning
Figure 4 shows a seasonal variation of monthly averaged
total lightning and AOD over the region R1, R2 and R3 for
the period of 2001–2012. The higher aerosol concentration
(AOD) is found during the month of July and decreasing
during monsoon period up to September over the north-west
regions i.e. over R1 and R2 (Fig. 4a, b). Whereas, maxi-
mum aerosol concentration (AOD) is seen during the month
of June and minimum during October over the north-east
IGP region (R3). Lower AOD values during peak monsoon
season (August–September) is due to significant dropped
in aerosol concentration by scavenging (Singh et al. 2004)
of aerosol due to rain (Fig. 4). Figure also shows less AOD
during the month of February, March and April compared to
January over the region R2 and R3 (Fig. 4c) and little higher
in the month of April than January over the region R1. The
higher value of AOD in January over the IGP region is the
result of local anthropogenic activities and aerosol trapping
due to strong subsidence during the winter season over the
region (Dey and Di Girolamo 2010; Di Girolamo et al. 2004;
Jethva et al. 2005; Kar et al. 2010) (Fig. 4c). Figure 5 shows,
AOD and Ångström exponent (α) (wavelength 470/660 nm)
for 2002 (the year 2002 is deficient rainfall year, discussed in
Sect. 3.4.2) over region R1, R2 and R3. Alike seasonal varia-
tion in averaged AOD (Fig. 4), maximum aerosol concentra-
tion is found for the month of July during the year 2002 over
the IGP regions (Fig. 5). The decreasing aerosol concentra-
tion from July to September over region R1 and R2 and up
to October over region R3 is also revealed. In the case of
the seasonal variation in Ångström exponent (α), the higher
value is seen during post-monsoon (Sep: 0.84, Oct: 0.84 and
Nov: 0.8) and winter (Dec: 0.78, Jan: 0.98 and Feb: 0.93.),
whereas lower value is observed during pre-monsoon (Mar:
0.78, Apr: 0.59 and May: 0.59) to monsoon onset (July) over
the region R1. Slightly increased Ångström exponent (α)
during post-monsoon and winter is found over region R2 and
R3. The lowest value of Ångström exponent (α) is found in
the month of July (~0.53) over the IGP regions. The higher
value of Ångström exponent (α) (near to 1 or more) corre-
sponds to the fine-mode particle, which generally originated
due to biomass burning, while, lower value (much less than
1) reveals the coarse mode particle which usually comes
from desert dust. Kedia et al. (2014) reported the Ångström
exponent (α) value ~0.8 (winter), 0.4–0.5 (pre-monsoon and
monsoon), and 0.7–0.8 (post monsoon) for fine mode, course
mode and fine mode, respectively, over IGP region, whereas,
Kalapureddy et al. (2009) are reported Ångström exponent
(α) values < 0.7, 0.7–1 and >1 for dust, mixed and fine mode
13
D. M. Lal et al.
particles, respectively, for the Arabian Sea. Figure 5 also
shows nearly equal Ångström exponent (α) values (~0.7)
for December and March month over the region R1 and for
September and March (~0.88) over region R3. It attributes
the presence of mixed mode aerosol particles during the
months over the regions. Increasing aerosol concentration
with decreasing Ångström exponent (α) during pre-monsoon
(MAM) till onset monsoon season and prevailing westerly
wind (Fig. 2) over this region reveal that the dust aerosol par-
ticles during this period are transported from north-western
deserts like Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Africa and Arabian
Peninsula, and spread over the IGP region. Transportation
of dust continues occurs till the monsoon onset (Jun–July)
over the northern parts of India (Lau and Kim 2010). Over
the north-western parts of India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttara-
khand, Jammu-Kashmir, Rajasthan, western Uttar Pradesh
i.e. R1 and R2) monsoon onset usually occurs in the first
week of July (IMD report-2012). Therefore, higher AOD
values are seen up to July month over the regions R1 and R2
(Fig. 4a, b). On the other hand monsoon onset occurs during
late June over the north-east IG region. Therefore, AOD is
less in the month of July over the region R3. (Fig. 4c). Kedia
et al. (2014) analysed the AOD and Ångström exponent (α)
over Kanpur and Gandhi College which lying in IGP region.
They have noted that coarse mode particles (due to desert
dust) dominate during pre-monsoon, whereas, fine mode
particles (due to biomass burning) during post-monsoon
and winter season. Other past studies [Lau and Kim (2006),
Lau et al. (2009), Prospero et al. (2002)] also reported that
during the month of April through June, the IGP is buffed
by dusty air transported by the wind from the Thar Desert.
Transported dust is an additional natural source of aerosols
other than originating due to anthropogenic activities (Lal
et al. 2012, 2013; Ramanathan and Ramana 2005; Tripathi
et al. 2006; Ghude et al. 2008). Similarly, lightning flashes
also show increasing trend up to June since pre-monsoon
season over the region R1. On average maximum lightning
(~2000) occurs during the months of May and June (Fig. 4a).
Almost similar seasonal variation has been noticed over the
region R2 and R3 (Fig. 4b, c). Thus, these findings suggest
that some association exist between aerosols and lightning
over these regions.
3.4 Inter annual variation of AOD and Lightning
3.4.1 Aerosol and lightning during normal rainfall year
Figure 6 shows an inter-annual variation of annual averaged
total lightning flashes and AOD for the period 2001–2012
over the area R1. Lightning activity varies with the con-
centration of aerosols loadings (i.e. AOD) with a correla-
tion coefficient of 0.63 when years 2002 is excluded. Our
estimate shows that about 8% increase in aerosol loading
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India

Fig.  4  a Monthly averaged

AOD (black line with square
point) and lightning (blue line
with circle) over R1 during the
period of 2001–2012 (the verti‑
cal bar is standard deviation). b
Monthly averaged AOD (black
line with square point) and
lightning (blue line with circle)
over R2 during the period of
2001–2012 (vertical bar is
standard deviation). c Monthly
averaged AOD (black line with
square point) and lightning
(blue line with circle) over R3
during the period of 2001–2012
(vertical bar is standard devia-
tion)

13
 D. M. Lal et al.

Fig. 5  AOD (blue circle) and

Ångstrom (470/660) (black
square) over region a R1, b R2
and c R3 for the year 2002, bar
is standard deviation

13
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India

Fig. 6  Annual averaged AOD

(black line with square) and
lightning (blue line with circle)
over R1 during the period of
2001–2012, vertical bar shows
the standard deviation and cc
correlation coefficient (exclud-
ing 2002)

leads to about 14% increase in lightning flashes. On the other
hand, over the west pacific ocean, Yuan et al. (2011) esti-
mate show that a ~60% increase in aerosol loading leads to
more than 150% increase in lightning flashes. The robust
and consistent positive correlation between lightning and
AOD over Amazon is also reported (Altaratz et al. 2010).
They attributed the increase in lightning activity with aero-
sol loadings to aerosol-mediated variability in cloud micro-
physics which leads to more lightning. Variability in the
size of cloud ice and its concentration is another evidence
of variability in cloud microphysics. In Fig. 7, a scattered
plot between (i) annual average size of cloud ice and annual
average lightning frequency (Fig. 7a) and (ii) annual aver-
age size of cloud ice and AOD (Fig. 7b) for the period of
2001–2012 are shown. The negative correlation between the
size of cloud ice and AOD (cc = −0.64) and size of cloud ice
and lightning (cc = −0.43) can be seen. These results reveal
that increasing aerosol concentration decreasing the size

Fig. 7  Relation between a
annual average of cloud ice size
and annual average of lightning
frequency, b annual average
of cloud ice size and annual
average of AOD over the region
R1 for the period 2001–2012,
cc correlation coefficient, p
probability of obtaining a test
statistic

13
 D. M. Lal et al.

Fig. 8  Monthly averaged rain-

fall for the deficient rainfall year
2002 (black line with square
point) and averaged rainfall
for 2001–2012 (red line with
circle), for the regions R1, R2
and R3, vertical bar shows the
standard deviation

13
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India
of cloud ice, and decreasing the size of cloud ice increas-
ing the lightning frequency. A significant negative correla-
tion between aerosol and cloud ice size is also reported by
Sherwood (2002). Small sizes of cloud ice produce more
lightning (Sherwood et al. 2006). Both reported results com-
plement our findings. During deficient rainfall years 2002
(IMD Drought bulletin 2009), the above existing positive
relationship between aerosol and lightning is not been seen.
Average aerosol concentration during these years was high
(AOD: 0.6), whereas the annual average of total lightning
was less (645 flashes).
3.4.2 Aerosol and lightning during deficient rainfall year
Let us consider 2 years (i) year 2002 (severe deficient rain-
fall year) and (ii) normal rainfall year 2010 (Sikka 2003;
Bulletin 2009; IMD 2010) for bringing out the compara-
tive influence of aerosol on cloud and thereupon lightning.
Figure 8 shows the seasonal variation in rainfall for the year
2002 and averaged rainfall for the year 2001–2012 for the
region R1, R2 and R3. Figure shows that rainfall occurred
during 2002 follows the averaged rainfall from January to
May over region R1 and R2, while up to June over R3.The
deficiency in rainfall is revealed in year 2002 during mon-
soon period (Jun–Aug) in the figure. The deficiency in rain-
fall was nearly ~−34% over the region R1during monsoon
period (Jun–Sep) 2002, and ~−27% and ~+3% respectively
was over R2 and R3 (Dey et al. 2005). Results suggest that
drought conditions were strongest over the North western
region and less over the north-east region. Figure 9a shows
the seasonal variation of monthly average AOD during the
deficient rainfall year 2002 and normal rainfall year 2010
(black line with square point for the year 2002 and red line
Fig. 9  Monthly averaged a
AOD for the deficient rainfall
year 2002 (black line with
square point) and for normal
rainfall year 2010 (red line with
circle), b total lightning for the
deficient year 2002 (black line
with squares) and for normal
rainfall year 2010 (red line with
circle) over the region R1
with circle for the year 2010). Lightning flash counts are
depicted in Fig. 9b (2002: black line with square point and
red with circle for 2010). In figures, it can be seen that AOD
is increasing up to July during both the years i.e. 2010 and
2002 simultaneously, whereas, the rapid increment is seen in
the year 2002 during the July month. Higher AOD is found
in the year 2002 in the July month. While, the occurrence
of lightning is less in the month of July in the year 2002,
whereas retains its strength during normal monsoon year
(2010). Lightning decreases when aerosol concentration
increases and the average value of AOD was 1.27 in July
2002. Lightning increases as the AOD increase to 0.88 (till
June) and thereafter it decreases. For an in-depth study, the
comparative seasonal variation of monthly averaged cloud
fraction and relative humidity fraction during the years 2002
and 2010 are plotted in Fig. 10. It can be observed from
this figure that the fractional relative humidity is 0.41 and
cloud fraction is 0.57 in July 2002 which is less as com-
pared to that of July 2010 (humidity ~0.66, cloud fraction
~0.85) (Fig. 10a, b). Cloud fraction is lower in a deficient
rainfall year 2002 because the large-scale conditions are not
favourable to supply moisture for cloud development, e.g.
the much lower humidity. In addition, evaporation of cloud
droplet during entrainment mixing of different air masses at
the core of the clouds reduces the fractional cloud coverage.
Small cloud droplet evaporates fast (Ackerman et al. 2000;
Small et al. 2009; Lal et al. 2013), is another cause of less
cloud fraction over, high aerosol concentrated, low humidity
region R1.Therefore, less cloud fraction has been revealed
in region R1 during July 2002. Koren et al. (2004)  and
Small et al. (2009, 2011)  both are found that large aerosol
concentration reduces cloud fraction which also supports to
our results. Bigger cloud and high cloud coverage/fraction
13
 D. M. Lal et al.

Fig. 10  Monthly averaged a
relative humidity (fraction)
during deficient rainfall year
2002 (black line with square
point) and during normal
monsoon rainfall year 2010
(red line with circle), b monthly
averaged cloud fraction during
2002 (black line with square)
and during 2010 (red line with
circle) over R1

produce more lightning (Altaratz et al. 2010), may be the
reason that less lightning is observed over R1 region in July
2002. Altaratz et al. (2010) have reported positive relation-
ship between AOD and lightning via cloud fraction and
cloud top temperature. They have also found that lightning
strokes increase with increasing AOD in the case of the low
value of AOD while decreasing the lightning with increasing
AOD in the case of higher values of AOD. We also observed
increasing lightning with increasing aerosol up to AOD 0.88
in low humid areas. Such phenomena are not seen over the
region R2 and R3 (Figs. 11, 12) where observed relative
humidity is comparatively higher than that over R1. In high
humid area increases cloud fraction with increasing aerosol
is also reported by Loeb and Schuster (2008). Figure 13
shows the scatter plot between aerosol and lightning over
these regions. It can be seen that the correlation between
aerosol and lightning is more significant (95%) over north-
west region R1 in contrast to the north-east region R3. This
suggests that occurrence of lightning over north-west (where
humidity is less) is due to the aerosol. While in the highly
humid area, it is not like that. This reveals that humidity
can regulate the influence of aerosol on cloud microphysics
(Lal et al. 2013). Variation in lightning frequencies in high
and low humid environment is also reported by Xiong et al.
(2006) and Betts (1997).

Fig. 11  Monthly averaged
relative humidity (in fraction)
during a deficient rainfall
2002 (black line with square)
and normal rainfall year 2010
(red line with circle point), b
monthly average cloud fraction
during 2002 (black line with
square) and during 2010 (red
line with circle) over R2

13
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India

Fig. 12  Monthly averaged a
relative humidity (fraction) for
during deficient rainfall year
2002 (black line with square)
and normal rainfall year 2010
(red line with circle), b monthly
average cloud fraction for defi-
cient rainfall year 2002 (black
line with square) and normal
rainfall year 2010 (red line with
circle) over the region R3

Fig. 13  Relation between AOD

and lightning over region R1
(deficient rainfall year 2002 is
not considered), over R2 and
over R3, cc correlation coef-
ficient

Convective available potential energy is well known
for determining the lightning. The relationship between
CAPE and lightning, is therefore, explored during both
years 2010 and 2002 for the region R1, R2 and R3, shown
in Fig. 14. Figure shows a significance correlation between
lightning and CAPE over entire IGP regions during both
years. The correlation between lightning and CAPE over
R1 is found to be cc = 0.57, at significant level 95%,
for 2010 (Fig. 14a), followed maximum over R3 region
(cc = 0.86, significant level 99.9%). Moderate correlation
is found over R2 (cc = 0.79, significant 99.9%). Results
reveal that CAPE is highly associated with lightning.
Pawar et al. (2012) suggested about the decisive role of
CAPE in a lightning generation over central India. Fig-
ure 14 also shows the relationship between CAPE and
lightning is increasing from north-west to north-east
IGP region. Similar feature is also revealed for year 2002
(Fig.  14b). The correlation coefficient between CAPE
and lightning for the region R1, R2, and R3 during 2002
are respectively cc = 0.55, cc = 0.97 (excluding May) and
cc = 0.83, at significant level more than 99%. Over north-
east India, decreasing CAPE and increasing inhibition
energy is revealed (Goswami et al. 2010), despite, huge
lightning has been seen over this region (R3) (Fig. 3). It is

13
 D. M. Lal et al.

Fig. 14  Seasonal (Jan–Dec)
scatter plot between lightning
and CAPE during a 2010, and
b 2002 over the region R1, R2
and R3 (cc correlation coeffi-
cient, p probability of obtaining
a test statistic)

believed that synoptic conditions and local scale circula-
tion is responsible for this.
3.4.3 Lightning over north‑east IGP
Most of the lightning occurs over north-east India, adja-
cent to the Bay of Bengal is due to the formation of Nor’-
westers locally known as ‘Kalbaisakhis’. Nor’-wester is a
severe thunderstorm occurs during pre-monsoon (MAM)
season over north and north-eastern parts of India (IGP).
We have selected two typical days i.e. 12 April 2002 and
26 April 2002 as examples, when lightning flash counts
were very high, i.e. 402 and 385, respectively as com-
pared to other days during the pre-monsoon months over
R3 (adjacent to the Bay of Bengal). The low-level circula-
tion on those days is shown in Fig. 15. From this figure
(Fig. 15), it can be seen that heated landmass with less
humidity hot and dry air masses are approaching from

13
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India
the north-west region (R1), whereas, somewhat clean and
moist air masses are coming from Bay of Bengal (Lal et al.
2013). These two dry and moist air masses converge over
Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. A channel
of conversed air masses from the north-east near the Bay
of Bengal to the west coast of Indian peninsula (Kerala
and Karnataka) on date 12 April 2002 has been found
(Fig. 15). For in deep study, half hourly cloud brightness
temperature data for the same day (i.e. 12 April 2002) has
been considered and shown in Fig. 16. A clear sky over
Jharkhand on 12 April 2002 at 5.30 UTC (Fig. 16a) and
small clouds over the Bay of Bengal, and few deep clouds
over the north-eastern part of India can be seen (Fig. 16a).
After half an hour i.e., at 06.00 UTC (on 12 April 2002),
a small cloud appeared over Jharkhand where dry and
moist air masses converged (Fig. 16b). This appearance
revealed that convergence of dry and moist air masses is
cause for cloud over the region. The growth of generated
small cloud with respect to time over Jharkhand can be
seen in Fig. 16c–f. An extended band of cloud from the
near Bay of Bengal to Kerala and Karnataka where dry and
moist are coinciding (Fig. 15) has been found (Fig. 16f).
Finding result strongly revealed the association between
dry and moist air masses and clouds over the region. In the
case of vertical growth of cloud, a very deep cloud hav-
ing cloud top temperature less than −70 °C over near the
Bay of Bengal at 10.30 UTC on 12 April 2002 has been
found (Figs. 15, 16 f). On the same day (12 April 2002)
at 10.30 UTC, the occurrence of lightning over the region
is shown in Fig. 17. A channel of lightning over the deep
Fig. 15  Wind stream line at
850 hPa and IR brightness tem-
perature on date 12 April 2002.
Bar colour code scale shows
IR brightness temperature in
degree centigrade
cloud along with convergence zone of dry and moist air
masses from the Bay of Bengal to Kerala and Karnataka
has been found. Total lightning range 430–598 flashes over
the Bay of Bengal (Lat. 19–24, Long. 86–93) where dense
cloud with cloud top temperature less than −70 °C (Lat.
20–25, Long. 87–91) has been found. Lightning range
94–178 over another surrounding region of Bay of Bengal
including Kerala and Karnataka and moderate lightning
(range 10–94) is over remaining part of convergence zone
has been seen. Results reveal that what lightning occurred
over the region was due to the convergence of dry and
moist air. Dry and moist air masses are essential for atmos-
pheric instability which causes for cloud formation. It is
also known that large-scale convergence facilitates trans-
port of moisture which in turn helps in the formation of
clouds. Tyagi et al. (2012) and Roy and Chatterjee (1929)
suggested that the occurrence of Nor’-westers over West
Bengal is due to the confluence of dry air masses from
north-west and moist air masses originating from the Bay
of Bengal, which results in low-level moisture convergence
over Bihar, Jharkhand and the surroundings (north-east
part of India). Mukhopadhyay et al. (2009) also reported
that storm for the West Bengal during Nor’westers, are
originated over Bihar Plateau, compliment our results.
On the other hand, the cloud which already existed over
the sea and north-eastern region disappeared (Fig. 16e,
f). A similar feature has been observed on date 26 April
2002 (figure not included). This results reveal that light-
ning occurred over the region near the Bay of Bengal is
due to the setting of the synoptic conditions instead of the
13

Fig. 16  IR brightness temperature on date 12 April 2002 a at 5.30 UTC, b at 6.00 UTC C at 6.30 UTC d at 7.00 UTC and e at 8.00UTC f at
10.30UTC. Bar colour code scale shows cloud top temperature
mere presence of atmospheric aerosols, which results in
the insignificant correlation between aerosol and lightning
over the region R3 (Fig. 14) in contrast to R1.
4 Conclusions
Influence of aerosol on lightning over IGP has been brought
out utilising AOD, lightning, humidity, surface temperature
and wind data from MODIS, LIS on the board of TRRM and
MERRA. We have selected three regions based on lightning,
moisture and aerosol loading, namely north-west region: R1,
north-east: R3 and central region R2 having moderate AOD.
In this study, we have found that aerosol concentration is
increasing up-to-the mid of monsoon (i.e. July) over the
north-west region R1 of IGP. The maximum concentration
of aerosol is observed in the month of July. The increasing
trend of aerosol suggested that transportation of dust from
the north-west desert is continuing till monsoon onset. We
have also found that lightning flashes increases up to June
since pre-monsoon and follow the aerosol concentration. A
significant positive correlation between aerosol and light-
ning over the north-west region during the years with normal
monsoon rainfall has been brought out, while negative rela-
tionship during the deficient rainfall years has been found.
During deficient rainfall years, lightning follows the aero-
sol concentration up to when AOD is less than 0.88, there-
after lightning decreases. The result suggested that in low
humidity area, lightning increases with increasing aerosol
for the low value of AOD, and decreases for the high value
13
D. M. Lal et al.
of AOD. Further, we have found that humidity and cloud
fraction during deficient rainfall year is less as compared to
normal rainfall year over the north-west (R1) region. The
effect of deficient rainfall has not been found considerably
over the regions R2 and R3 where relative humidity is com-
paratively higher than over R1. Thereby, cloud fraction over
these regions is same as during normal rainfall year. Our
result revealed that aerosol can change the internal process
of cloud via reducing the size of cloud droplets consequently
cloud-ice which is regulated by the presence of atmospheric
humidity. However, it should be noted that aerosol radia-
tive effects plays crucial role in modification of mesoscale
convections (Wang et al. 2014) and large-scale circulations
(Wang et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). The absorptive aerosols
(e.g. carbonaceous aerosols) over Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP)
region are potentially very important in terms of their radia-
tive effects, and they are efficient in regulating the atmos-
pheric instability. Decreasing solar radiation over Indian
region including IGP with monthly average of the order of
10–25 W m−2 is reported (Li et al. 2016). The degree of
aerosols that weaken the circulation is the subject of large
uncertainties. Also, aerosol indirect effect modulates the
monsoon, clouds and convection, but, its impacts are still
subject of further investigation (Li et al. 2016).
In the case of the north-east region near Bay of Bengal
(region R3), huge lightning occurs over the region. Despite
this, the correlation between aerosol and lightning is less
(sometimes negative). Our result shows that lightning
over the north-east region (R3) is independent of aerosol
availability. We have found that the local meteorological
Relationship between aerosol and lightning over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India
Fig. 17  Lightning flashes on
date 12 April 2002 at 10.30
UTC colour bar is scale for
lightning frequency
conditions play a major role in a lightning generation. Dry
air coming from north-western region coincides with moist
air coming from sea surface of the Bay of Bengal over
near Bihar and Jharkhand (state of India) resulting strong
convergence over the region. The regional scale moisture
convergence facilitates convergence of moisture, which in
turn forces the form deep clouds. Clouds forming over the
Bihar and Jharkhand and later, turning into large size deep
convective cloud have been found. The top temperature
of these developed clouds is less than −70 °C, and very
intense lightning over the region has been brought out. A
band of lightning is found along the coincide channel of
dry and moist airs, where deep clouds form near the Bay
of Bengal to west coast of Indian peninsula (Kerala and
Karnataka). Such convergence arises during Nor’wester
locally known as “Kalbashakhi”. Therefore, it is reason-
able to say that occurrence of lightning over R3 (adjacent
Bay of Bengal) is due to local meteorological conditions
instead of aerosol. Hence, a significant correlation between
aerosol and lightning over R1, moderate over R2 and less
over R3 is found.
Acknowledgements  We thank Director, IITM, Pune for all neces-
sary facility provided while carrying out this work. The authors are
also thankful to Mr Abhay S. D. Rajput for his valuable suggestion in
English grammar and thankful to Analyses and visualisations used in
this study which was produced with the Giovanni online data system,
developed and maintained by the NASA GES DISC. We acknowledge
the mission scientists and Principal Investigators who provided the data
used in this research.
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