Sign In
Learn bits
Geography
Pradeep Kumar

18/07/21 10:20 AM IST

Rare Arctic lightning storms strike north of Alaska

In news

Three successive thunderstorms swept across the icy Arctic from Siberia to north of Alaska, unleashing lightning bolts in an unusual phenomenon that scientists say will become less rare with global warming.

Details
  • The air over the Arctic Ocean, especially when the water is covered with ice, lacks the convective heat needed to generate lightning storms.
  • But as climate change warms the Arctic faster than the rest of the world, that's changing, scientists say.
  • Episodes of summer lightning within the Arctic Circle have tripled since 2010, a trend directly tied to climate change and increasing loss of sea ice in the far north, scientists reported in a March study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
  • These electrical storms threaten boreal forests fringing the Arctic, as they spark fires in remote regions already baking under the round-the-clock summer sun.
  • In Alaska alone, thunderstorm activity is on track to increase threefold by the end of the century if current climate trends continue, according to two studies by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, published over the last year in the journal Climate Dynamics.
Source: The Hindu

More Related Current Affairs View All

08 Sep

Rajasthan’s coaching centre Bill

'The Rajasthan Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Bill, 2025, is a significant piece of legislation passed by the Rajasthan Assembly to regulate and oversee the state's burg

Read More

28 Aug

IADT-1

'Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out its first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-1), a crucial milestone in the preparation for the countr

Read More

28 Aug

H-1B visa changes

'H-1B visa changes 2025: United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the popular H-1B visa program a “scam”, saying that American businesses should be focuse

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps