Characteristics of Regular Pulse Bursts Generated From Lightning Discharges

Abstract

In this work, we studied the waveforms of all lightning discharges from about 15 min. Eighty-three percent of all lightning discharges contain particular waveforms called regular pulse bursts (RPBs), which have regular microsecond-scale electric or magnetic field pulses. Maximum proportion of RPBs occur in middle or rear of lightning discharges. Prior to or after RPBs, there is always a chaotic pulse period. The analysis indicated that RPBs are caused by a secondary discharge in the fractured old breakdown channel, likeness to dart-stepped leader occuring in negative cloud-to-ground discharge (-CG). Four types of RPBs, namely, category of normal RPBs, category of back RPBs, category of symmetric RPBs, and category of reversal RPBs, were sorted in the light of the evolution of the pulse amplitude, interval between neighboring pulses and pulse polarity. In addition, the difference between normal RPBs and back RPBs was considered to be caused by the distance between neighboring charge pockets and the magnitude of the charge in every charge pocket. The symmetric RPBs were considered to be caused by a discharge channel with a large central charge area. Reversal RPBs were considered to be caused by a bending channel or superposition of two or more RPBs. We located some RPBs in a typical intra-cloud flash (IC) in three-dimensional. The analysis showed that the developing velocity of RPBs ranged from approximately 1.2 × 106 m/s to 3.0 × 106 m/s, which slower less than both of the dart leader or dart-stepped leader process from previous studies. And we found it is several meters to dozens of meters that the lengths range of discharge step which between two adjacent pulses.

3D Corona Discharge Model and Its Use in the Presence of Wind During a Thunderstorm

“…Corona discharge is the phenomenon whereby the local electric field (E-field) at the tip of the building exceeds the breakdown threshold of air. Large-scale laboratory simulations and field observations have shown that the initial E-field of corona discharge (Peek, 1929) and the relationship between the corona-induced current and the environmental E-field (Zhou et al, 1965;Lu et al, 2010;Yanhui et al, 2021) are influenced by many factors, such as the shape and material of the tip, the terrain, and characteristics of the thunderstorm E-field (Golde, 1977;Standler and Winn, 1979;Chauzy and Raizonville, 1982;Qie et al, 1994;Soula, 1994). Zhang et al (2016) measured corona charges in the air in the range from several hundred to thousands of meters above the ground, with an average magnitude of about 1 nC/m 3 .…”

A Strong Pulsing Nature of Negative Intracloud Dart Leaders Accompanied by Regular Trains of Microsecond‐Scale Pulses

“…Y. Wang et al (2021) found that the leaders generating regular pulse trains occurred usually in the middle of an IC flash, and propagated at a velocity of 1.2-3 × 10 6 m/s, slower than both the dart leaders or dart-stepped leaders in CG flashes. Using an array of 12 electric field antennas, Shi et al (2020) found that a majority of pulse trains propagated through the main negative charge region.…”

“…Davis (1999), Krider et al (1975), and Y. Wang et al (2021) found that duration of an average interpulse interval in regular pulse trains occurring within IC flashes was about 5 µs. The pulse repetition rates and peak pulse amplitudes tend to decrease toward the end of the train (Kolmašová & Santolík, 2013;Rakov et al, 1992Rakov et al, , 1996.…”