Is the mechanism of the formation of thundercloud fully known today??
Answers
Answer:
M.B. Baker, in Baker, in Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences (Second Edition), 2015
Lightning: the Process
Lightning is an electrical discharge; i.e., a rapid redistribution of electrical charge within electrical discharge; i.e., a rapid redistribution of electrical charge within thunderclouds or between a cloud and its surroundings. IC, or intra-cloud lightning, is a discharge between two points in the same cloud; C–G, or cloud-to-ground lightning, transfers charge between a point in cloud and a point on the ground below. (Intercloud lightning, connecting points in different clouds, will not be treated here.)
A lightning flash consists of several components. In C–G flashes (which are those most widely and closely studied) a low-current (∼1 kA), low-luminosity channel is initiated in the cloud. The channel is a fully ionized plasma tube several centimeters in diameter. Joule heating by electrical currents in the plasma raises the channel temperature to above 20 000 K. The heated gas expands, giving rise to shock waves producing the sound called thunder. The current carried by the channel discharges tens of millions of volts. The high temperatures inside the channel favor certain chemical reactions of atmospheric significance; in particular, the production of NO and NOy)).
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