A new lightning scheme in the Canadian Atmospheric Model (CanAM5.1): implementation, evaluation, and projections of lightning and fire in future climates

Whaley, Cynthia; Etten-Bohm, Montana; Schumacher, Courtney; Akingunola, Ayodeji; Arora, Vivek; Cole, Jason; Lazare, Michael; Plummer, David; von Salzen, Knut; Winter, Barbara

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7141-2024

Articles | Volume 17, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7141-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7141-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 18

Development and technical paper

|

25 Sep 2024

Development and technical paper |

| 25 Sep 2024

A new lightning scheme in the Canadian Atmospheric Model (CanAM5.1): implementation, evaluation, and projections of lightning and fire in future climates

Cynthia Whaley, Montana Etten-Bohm, Courtney Schumacher, Ayodeji Akingunola, Vivek Arora, Jason Cole, Michael Lazare, David Plummer, Knut von Salzen, and Barbara Winter

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7141-2024-supplement

Data sets

ESA Fire Climate Change Initiative (Fire_cci): MODIS Fire_cci Burned Area Grid product, version 5.1 E. Chuvieco et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/3628cb2fdba443588155e15dee8e5352

LIS/OTD Gridded Lightning Climatology Data Collection D. J. Cecil et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/LIS/LIS-OTD/DATA311

NRT Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on International Space Station (ISS) Science Data R. J. Blakeslee https://doi.org/10.5067/LIS/ISSLIS/DATA109

Model code and software

CanAM5.1 with lightning Cynthia Whaley https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12701442

Short summary

This paper describes how lightning was added as a process in the Canadian Earth System Model in order to interactively respond to climate changes. As lightning is an important cause of global wildfires, this new model development allows for more realistic projections of how wildfires may change in the future, responding to a changing climate.