14 DAY TRIAL // A new study shows that intense wildfires taking place in nature can also influence the atmosphere into producing massive thunderstorms. Scientists determined that the storms which are formed in this manner take place at higher altitudes than normal storms.
One of the most interesting conclusions of the new research is the fact that these types of thunderstorms appear to occur very often, much more so than experts first calculated. The study was presented Monday, August 9, in Brazil, at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
The particular class of thunderstorms caused by wildfires is called pyrocumulonimbus storms, or pyrocbs. The smoke and particulate matter they contain can be injected to altitudes of between 6 and 10 miles (10 to 16 kilometers). Other storms do not reach this high up, meteorologists say.
“We're finding that rules are a little different for pyrocbs, and we think it's because they have heat energy associated with them that's equivalent to a minor volcanic eruption,” tells OurAmazingPlanet Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) meteorologist Michael Fromm.
The lower layers of the stratosphere were discovered to contain large amounts of particles, but until now experts thought that volcanic eruptions were responsible for this. The new data seems to indicate that thunderstorms caused by wildfires are the main driving force behind this phenomenon.
Fromm also says that air currents in the upper atmosphere carry the smoke and particulate matter around the world, depending on the region where they are first produced. Such a danger now exists with the carbon monoxide gas released by the wildfires devastating Russia.
Speaking of which, the new investigation managed to identify no less than three procbs produced by the current wildfires. But this type of storm can appear anywhere in the world, provided that the conditions are just right.
“It's less important what is burning than how much is instantaneously burning – it could be grassland, forests, it could be a city,” Fromm believes. He adds that no computer models currently exist to explain this phenomenon, and says that his team is currently working on one.