The Physics of Lightning

An overview of the physics of cloud-to-ground lightning is given, including its initiation, propagation, and attachment to ground. Discharges artificially initiated (triggered) from natural thunderclouds using the rocket-and-wire technique are discussed with a view toward studying properties of natural lightning. Both conventional and runaway breakdown mechanisms of lightning initiation in thunderclouds are reviewed, as is the role of the lower positive charge region in facilitating different types of lightning. New observations of negative-leader stepping and its attachment to ground are compared to similar processes in long laboratory sparks. The mechanism and parameters of compact intracloud lightning discharges that are thought to be the most intense natural producers of HF-VHF (3–300 MHz) radiation on Earth are reviewed. The M-component mode of charge transfer to ground and its difference from the leader/return-stroke mode are discussed. Lightning interaction with the ionosphere and the production of energetic radiation (X-rays and gamma radiation) by cloud-to-ground leaders are considered.     

The spectra and temperature of cloud lightning discharge channel

Spectra of seven cloud lightning discharges are reported for the first time after captured with a Slit-less Spectrograph on Chinese Tibet Plateau. The structural characters are analyzed and compared with the spectra of cloud-to-ground lightning, and the results indicate that the spectra of cloud lightning show two different kinds of structure characteristics. One has the similar structure as those of cloud-toground lightning discharge, and the other is absolutely different. Meanwhile, more lines of OII with high excited energy are recorded in the spectra of cloud lightning discharge in comparison with that of cloud-to-ground lighting happening in the same region. Temperatures at different positions are calculated and temperature characteristics of these two sorts are analyzed, based to the wavelength, relative intensities and other transition parameters. We suggest that the physical process in the cloud discharge channels changes with much more rapid velocity and wider range compared to cloud-to-ground lightning. The differences between the two types of cloud discharge also reflect some discrepancies between the discharge characteristics. Supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40475007) and Foundation of Northwest Normal University (Grant No. NWNU-KJCXGC-03-21)     

Low-frequency E-field Detection Array(LFEDA)—Construction and preliminary results

In recent years, locating total lightning at the VLF/LF band has become one of the most important directions in lightning detection. The Low-frequency E-field Detection Array(LFEDA) consisting of nine fast antennas was developed by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Guangzhou between 2014 and 2015. This paper documents the composition of the LFEDA and a lightning-locating algorithm that applies to the low-frequency electric field radiated by lightning pulse discharge events(LPDEs). Theoretical simulation and objective assessment of the accuracy and detection efficiency of LFEDA have been done using Monte Carlo simulation and artificial triggered lightning experiment, respectively. The former results show that having a station in the network with a comparatively long baseline improves both the horizontal location accuracy in the direction perpendicular to the baseline and the vertical location accuracy along the baseline. The latter results show that detection efficiencies for triggered lightning flashes and return strokes are 100% and 95%, respectively. The average planar location error for return strokes of triggered lightning flashes is 102 m. By locating LPDEs in thunderstorms, we find that LPDEs are consistent with convective regions as indicated by strong reflectivity columns, and present a reasonable distribution in the vertical direction.In addition, the LFEDA can reveal an image of lightning development through mapping the channels of lightning. Based on three-dimensional locations, the vertical propagation speed of the preliminary breakdown and the changing trend of the leader's speed in an intra-cloud and a cloud-to-ground flash are investigated. The research results show that the LFEDA has the capability for three-dimensional location of lightning, which provides a new technique for researching lightning development characteristics and thunderstorm electricity.     

Estimation of global lightning activity and observations of atmospheric electric field

Variations in the global atmospheric electric circuit are investigated using a wide range of globally spaced instruments observing VLF (∼10 kHz) waves, ELF (∼300 Hz) waves, Schumann resonances (4–60 Hz), and the atmospheric fair weather electric field. For the ELF/VLF observations, propagation effects are accounted for in a novel approach using established monthly averages of lightning location provided by the Lightning Image Sensor (LIS) and applying known frequency specific attenuation parameters for daytime/nighttime ELF/VLF propagation. Schumann resonances are analyzed using decomposition into propagating and standing waves in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. Derived lightning activity is compared to existing global lightning detection networks and fair weather field observations. The results suggest that characteristics of lightning discharges vary by region and may have diverse effects upon the ionospheric potential.     

地闪对崇明地震台地球物理观测的干扰

通过对比崇明地区地闪及崇明地震台地球物理观测资料,发现受地闪引起的电磁场变化的直接作用或对仪器元件的间接作用,地磁、地电、电磁扰动和水位观测干扰比例较高,干扰幅度与地闪距离及形成的电流强度有关。具体干扰形态如下:①对电磁扰动干扰表现为单向突跳和测值的整体抬升;②对地磁测项干扰表现为正负方向的单点突跳;③对大地电场干扰表现为大幅震荡;④对水位观测干扰表现为大幅突跳。     

On the hourly contribution of global cloud-to-ground lightning activity to the atmospheric electric field in the Antarctic during December 1992

ELF magnetic field measurements from 10 to 135 Hz at Arrival Heights, Antarctica, are used as a proxy measure of global cloud-to-ground lightning activity. Simultaneous hourly recordings of the atmospheric electric field on the surface of the Earth at South Pole during December 1992 make possible a detailed comparison between global cloud-to-ground lightning activity and the atmospheric electric field. Although the mean diurnal variation of the ELF magnetic field and the atmospheric electric field exhibit a remarkable similarity in shape and phase, the hourly departures from their mean diurnal variations are poorly correlated. We quantify the variability of the atmospheric electric field which can be explained by global cloud-to-ground lightning activity through linear regression analysis. To estimate an accuracy of this method, it is applied to simultaneous measurements of the ELF magnetic field at Søndrestrømfjord, Greenland, for comparison. The resulting hourly contribution of global cloud-to-ground lightning activity to the atmospheric electric field in the Antarctic during December 1992 is ∼40±10%, and the contribution of global cloud-to-ground lightning activity to hourly departures from the mean diurnal variation of the atmospheric electric field is ∼25±10%.     

地闪对崇明地震台地球物理观测的干扰

通过对比崇明地区地闪及崇明地震台地球物理观测资料,发现受地闪引起的电磁场变化的直接作用或对仪器元件的间接作用,地磁、地电、电磁扰动和水位观测干扰比例较高,干扰幅度与地闪距离及形成的电流强度有关。具体干扰形态如下：①对电磁扰动干扰表现为单向突跳和测值的整体抬升;②对地磁测项干扰表现为正负方向的单点突跳;③对大地电场干扰表现为大幅震荡;④对水位观测干扰表现为大幅突跳。     

用宽带干涉仪观测云内闪电通道双向传输的特征

利用闪电宽带干涉仪系统对闪电的观测表明，地闪和云闪的云内闪电通道都存在双向发展的特征. 闪电在云中负电荷区域初始激发以后，在通道两端发生向不同方向同时发展的击穿过程. 这两种击穿过程均产生较强的辐射，且辐射频谱特征十分相似，表明云内闪电通道两端发生的击穿过程可能均为负击穿过程. 相应电场变化表明闪电通道双向发展期间伴随着负电荷的向上转移. 这一观测事实与Kasemir早期提出的闪电通道双向发展的概念有一定的差异.     

不同电结构雷暴中的地闪特征

对观测资料的分析表明,甘肃地区和海南岛的地闪特征具有很大差异。海南岛负地闪（P型）首次回击前的电场变化波形与国外的报道类似,而甘肃地区仅有30％左右的负地闪属P型,约70％的负地闪首次回击前的电场变化波形具有明显的云闪特征（C型负地闪）。海南岛没有发现正地闪,甘肃地区有正地闪。该两地区存在两类电结构不同的雷暴,两类雷暴中地闪放电过程及特征的很大差异,说明我国的防雷规范及措施很可能需要考虑雷暴的地区差异性。     

Using full-flash narrowband energy for ranging of lightning ground strokes

We demonstrate that narrowband measurements can be used for rudimentary ranging of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes. The system at present responds to both intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning; ranging is demonstrated for a subset of flashes known to be cloud-to-ground lightning. The system uses a ferrite-core antenna with a length of about 4 cm and diameter 4 mm, and operates on a narrow band at about 1 MHz, close to the HF band (3–30 MHz). It downmixes the signal to audio frequencies and operates in a manner which is very similar to an AM radio. The system triggers on all impulses which exceed a given adjustable threshold above the ambient noise level, and records 1 s of data. Such a system was used to collect lightning-caused electromagnetic disturbances during summer 2006 in Finland. The output is compared to two scientifically verified references: a flat-plate broadband antenna measuring the vertical electric field and a commercial lightning location network giving flash location. A key aim of the system is to reduce the information to as few parameters as possible. Peak intensity and full-flash energy were used as simple parameters. It is shown that accurate flash-by-flash ranging is not possible with this method; however, it is shown that the method can be used to track clusters of ground flashes within a range of about 50–100 km with an accuracy of about 10 km.     

闪电放电过程的近红外光谱及温度沿放电通道的演化特征

利用无狭缝红外光谱仪, 获得山东地区闪电放电过程760~970 nm范围的近红外光谱.光谱特征分析得出: 近红外光谱主要是峰值电流之后、放电后期的辐射, 谱线主要是中性原子的贡献.首次讨论了放电后期的通道温度和光谱总强度沿放电通道的演化特征.结果表明, 通道温度较回击电流上升至峰值阶段降低, 约为16000 K; 不同闪电的光谱结构、通道温度差异不大, 反映了放电等离子体复合阶段的特性; 地闪通道的温度和光谱总强度沿放电通道略呈单调变化趋势, 接地点附近最大; 云闪通道的温度和光谱总强度沿放电通道非单调变化, 在通道的拐弯、分叉以及结点附近发生突变.     

静止卫星闪电探测中云影响研究

相对已经在轨运行的极轨卫星,搭载在静止卫星上的闪电成像仪能够提供全天候、无间断的闪电探测,是目前全球卫星闪电探测的方向.本文分析云不同特性对云顶闪电信号的影响,以及云高对静止卫星闪电定位的订正分析,将对静止卫星闪电成像仪的研发及其业务化运行提供技术支撑.研究中,通过建立云中闪电传输模型,模拟云中闪电传输.由于云粒子散射,云的体积、光学厚度和形状,以及闪电在云中发生的深度,都影响云中或云间闪电信号传输到云顶的能量衰减和持续时间,其持续时间可能超过已知静止卫星闪电成像仪假设的2 ms成像积分时间间隔,这样不能保证所有的闪电信号在一帧图像内探测到.但是,云粒子散射对云顶闪电的水平位置影响不大,闪电成像仪定位的云顶闪电可代表云中或云间的闪电位置.同时,在传统静止卫星图像定位模型的基础上,建立了闪电定位的云高订正模型.根据该模型,当云顶高度为10 km,云高所引起的闪电定位最大误差达到经向0.5379°、纬向0.2273°,超过已知静止卫星闪电成像仪假设的地面探测单元大小,有必要进行订正.     

Estimate of NOX production in the lightning channel based on three-dimensional lightning locating system

Based on the VHF lightning locating system,a three-dimensional-space cell-gridded approach is used to extract the lighting channel and calculate the length of the channel.Through clustering of the located radiation sources and then extracting the lightning channel,it can accurately obtain the length of the channel.To validate the feasibility of the approach,a simulation experiment is designed,and it shows the length error is no more than 10%.The relationship between the NO production of per unit arc length and atmospheric pressure obtained in laboratory is applied to the NOX production of per unit flash length at different altitudes in this paper.The channel length and the NOX production of 11 negative cloud-to-ground flashes and 59 intracloud flashes in an isolated thunderstorm in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are calculated.The results show that the average channel lengths of per cloud-to-ground and intracloud flash are 28.9 and 22.3 km respectively;the average NOX productions of per cloud-to-ground and intracloud flash are 1.89×1025 and 0.42×1025 molecules,respectively.     

基于电磁卫星的闪电哨声波智能检测算法的研究进展

闪电哨声波作为探索空间物理环境的重要媒介,淹没在海量的电磁卫星数据中.近年来随着计算机视觉和深度学习等人工智能技术的发展,从电磁卫星的存档数据中自动检测闪电哨声波的算法取得了一定的效果.本文对近年来闪电哨声波智能检测算法的文献进行了整理和总结.首先,阐述闪电哨声波在电磁卫星数据中呈现的时频特征和类型;然后,介绍了闪电哨声波智能检测算法的流程并从闪电哨声波的特征提取、分类和定位三个方面对主要的智能检测算法进行归纳、总结和评述;其次,简述了闪电哨声波智能检测模型的评价指标;接着,在张衡一号(ZH-1)卫星的磁场数据上对三种典型的闪电哨声波智能检测算法进行复现,并对三种算法的优缺点进行了较深入的分析;最后,对基于电磁卫星的闪电哨声波智能检测的研究领域进行总结和展望.     

New model simulations of the global atmospheric electric circuit driven by thunderstorms and electrified shower clouds: The roles of lightning and sprites

Several processes acting below, in and above thunderstorms and in electrified shower clouds drive upward currents which close through the global atmospheric electric circuit. These are all simulated in a novel way using the software package PSpice. A moderate negative cloud-to-ground lightning discharge from the base of a thunderstorm increases the ionospheric potential above the thundercloud by 0.0013%. Assuming the ionosphere to be an equipotential surface, this discharge increases the current flowing in the global circuit and the fair-weather electric field also by 0.0013%. A moderate positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharge from the bottom of a thunderstorm decreases the ionospheric potential by 0.014%. Such a discharge may trigger a sprite, causing the ionospheric potential to decrease by . The time scales for the recovery of the ionospheric potential are shown to be , which is of the same order as the CR time constant for the global circuit. Knowing the global average rate of lightning discharges, it is found that negative cloud-to-ground discharges increase the ionospheric potential by only 4%, and that positive cloud-to-ground discharges reduce it by 3%. Thus, overall, lightning contributes only 1%—an almost insignificant proportion—to maintaining the high potential of the ionosphere. It is concluded that the net upward current to the ionosphere due to lightning is only . Further, it is concluded that conduction and convection currents associated with “batteries” within thunderclouds and electrified shower clouds contribute essentially equally ( each) to maintaining the ionospheric potential.     

Modelling the diurnal evolution of the resonance spectral structure of the atmospheric noise background in the Pc 1 frequency range

We calculate the frequency spectrum of the electromagnetic background noise in frequency range 0.1–5 Hz based on the model attributing its formation to the ionospheric resonant filtration of the radiation from distant lightning discharges (Belyaev, P.P., Polyakov, S.V., Rapoport, V.O., Trakhtengerts, V.Y., 1989. Theory of formation of the resonance spectral structure of atmospheric electromagnetic noise background in the range of short-period geomagnetic pulsations, Izvestiya vuzov-Radiofizika 32(7) 802–810). Characteristics of the spectral resonance structure (SRS) formed due to the ionospheric Alfvén resonator are obtained and their dependence on ionospheric parameters is considered; the SRS variation during a day is discussed. The calculations are compared with the ULF ground based observations at Sodankylä and Nizhny Novgorod; consistency of theory and experiment is demonstrated. Opportunities to use such data to determine some of ionosphere parameters are discussed.     

气溶胶对雷暴云电过程影响的数值模拟研究

本文在已有的三维雷暴云起、放电模式中加入了一种经典的气溶胶活化参数化方案,结合一次长春雷暴个例,进行了雷暴云起放电数值模拟试验.研究显示气溶胶浓度改变对雷暴云微物理、起电及放电过程都有重要影响.结果表明:(1)污染型雷暴云中气溶胶浓度增加时,云滴数目增多,上升风速加强;云中冰晶与霰粒子数浓度增加但尺度减小;(2)相对于清洁型雷暴云,污染型雷暴云非感应起电过程弱,感应起电过程强,起电持续时间长;(3)污染型雷暴云中首次放电时间延迟,闪电持续发生的时间长,总闪电频次增加,正地闪频次增加明显.     

Lightning Applications in Weather and Climate Research

Thunderstorms, and lightning in particular, are a major natural hazard to the public, aviation, power companies, and wildfire managers. Lightning causes great damage and death every year but also tells us about the inner working of storms. Since lightning can be monitored from great distances from the storms themselves, lightning may allow us to provide early warnings for severe weather phenomena such as hail storms, flash floods, tornadoes, and even hurricanes. Lightning itself may impact the climate of the Earth by producing nitrogen oxides (NOx), a precursor of tropospheric ozone, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Thunderstorms themselves influence the climate system by the redistribution of heat, moisture, and momentum in the atmosphere. What about future changes in lightning and thunderstorm activity? Many studies show that higher surface temperatures produce more lightning, but future changes will depend on what happens to the vertical temperature profile in the troposphere, as well as changes in water balance, and even aerosol loading of the atmosphere. Finally, lightning itself may provide a useful tool for tracking climate change in the future, due to the nonlinear link between lightning, temperature, upper tropospheric water vapor, and cloud cover.     

地震-电离层扰动探测技术的研究进展

回顾了地震-电离层扰动机理的研究进展和主要的数据观测方法,总结了地震电磁卫星观测电离层扰动的应用发展情况以及基于卫星测量数据对异常辐射源定位的研究进展,介绍了无线电探测方法的实验情况和数据分析方法,为未来中国探测电离层扰动进行短临地震预测工作提出了建议.     

Estimating the Characteristics of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances from Vertical Incidence Ionograms within a Compound Parabolic Layer Model

The characteristic U-shaped traces (cusps) in ionograms are associated with the passage of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs), which lead to horizontal electron density gradients in the ionosphere and, therefore, to off-angle reflections in radio sounding. A new form of representation is considered for daily ionospheric sounding data. A compound parabolic layer model is proposed, which allows analytical calculation of ray paths to speed up the “homing-in” of the rays. Changes in the shape of the trace in the ionogram due to varying the TID characteristics are examined. A discussion is given of the possibilities for estimating TID characteristics from digitized vertical sounding ionograms.