Cuts in sulfur emissions from oceangoing vessels have been tied to a reduction in lightning stroke density along heavily trafficked shipping routes in the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea,
Cuts in sulfur emissions from oceangoing vessels have been tied to a reduction in lightning stroke density along heavily trafficked shipping routes in the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, according to new research from the University of Kansas (KU).
Previous studies had found frequent lightning along shipping routes over the Bay of Bengal before a 2020 IMO rule capped sulfur in fuel used by oceangoing ships, leading to a roughly 70% drop in sulfate emissions in the Bay of Bengal.
“I think there are two reasons for this,” said lead author Qinjian Jin, assistant teaching professor of geography & atmospheric science at KU. “The first is the shipping activity is so frequent that it releases a lot of sulfate aerosols, more than other oceanic regions. The second is that the Bay of Bengal is an area where we see lots of strong convection that is required for lightning to occur. I think both reasons contribute to the observed frequent lightning activity over this region.”
Jin said these two ocean regions best revealed the connection between shipping emissions and lightning. The KU researcher and his colleagues found lightning-stroke density — the number of individual lightning discharges, or “strokes,”
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