The Initial Stage of Cloud Lightning Imaged in High‐Resolution

Stijn Buitink; Olaf Scholten; Arthur Corstanje; Tim Huege; Jörg Hörandel; Godwin Komla Krampah; Pragati Mitra; Katharine Mulrey; Hershal Pandya; Jörg Paul Rachen

doi:10.1029/2020jd033126

The Initial Stage of Cloud Lightning Imaged in High‐Resolution

Stijn Buitink, Olaf Scholten, Arthur Corstanje, Tim Huege, Jörg Hörandel, Godwin Komla Krampah, Pragati Mitra, Katharine Mulrey, Hershal Pandya, Jörg Paul Rachen

Onderzoeksoutput: Article › peer review

Samenvatting

With LOFAR we have been able to image the development of lightning flashes with meter-scale accuracy and unprecedented detail. We discuss the primary steps behind our most recent lightning imaging method. To demonstrate the capabilities of our technique we show and interpret images of the first few milliseconds of two intracloud flashes. In all our flashes, the negative leaders propagate in the charge layer below the main negative charge. Among several interesting features we show that in about 2 ms after initiation the primary initial leader triggers the formation of a multitude (>10) negative leaders in a rather confined area of the atmosphere. From these only one or two continue to propagate after about 30 ms to extend over kilometers horizontally while another may propagate back to the initiation point. We also show that normal negative leaders can transition into an initial leader like state, potentially in the presence of strong electric fields. In addition, we show some initial breakdown pulses that occurred during the primary initial leader, and even during two “secondary” initial leaders that developed out of stepped leaders.

Originele taal-2	English
Artikelnummer	e2020JD033126
Aantal pagina's	19
Tijdschrift	Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Volume	126
Nummer van het tijdschrift	4
DOI's	https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jd033126
Status	Published - 27 feb 2021

Bibliografische nota

Funding Information:
The LOFAR cosmic ray key science project acknowledges funding from an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (FP/2007‐2013)/ERC Grant Agreement 227610. The project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement 640130). We furthermore acknowledge financial support from FOM (FOM‐project 12PR304). B. M. Hare is supported by the NWO (VI.VENI.192.071). A. Nelles is supported by the DFG (NE 2031/2‐1). T. Winchen is supported by DFG Grant 4946/1‐1. The work of I. Kolmašová and O. Santolík was supported by the European Regional Development Fund‐Project CRREAT (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15‐003/0000481) and by the Praemium Academiae award of the Czech Academy of Sciences AS. The work of R. Lán and L. Uhlíř was supported by the GACR Grant 20‐09671S. K. Mulrey is supported by the FWO (FWO‐12ZD920N). T. N. G. Trinh acknowledges funding from the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under Grant 103.01‐2019.378. S. Thoudam acknowledges funding from the Khalifa University Startup grant (project code 8474000237).

Funding Information:
This paper is based on data obtained with the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT). LOFAR (van Haarlem et al., 2013 ) is the low‐frequency array designed and constructed by ASTRON. It has observing, data processing, and data storage facilities in several countries, that are owned by various parties (each with their own funding sources), and that are collectively operated by the ILT foundation under a joint scientific policy. The ILT resources have benefited from the following recent major funding sources: CNRS‐INSU, Observatoire de Paris and Université d'Orléans, France; BMBF, MIWF‐NRW, MPG, Germany; Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Department of Business, Enterprise, and Innovation (DBEI), Ireland; NWO, The Netherlands; The Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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10.1029/2020jd033126

Andere bestanden en links

SRP8: SRP (Zwaartepunt): Hoge-Energiefysica
D'Hondt, J., Van Eijndhoven, N., Craps, B. & Buitink, S.
1/11/12 → 31/10/24
Project: Fundamenteel

Citeer dit

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title = "The Initial Stage of Cloud Lightning Imaged in High‐Resolution",

abstract = "With LOFAR we have been able to image the development of lightning flashes with meter-scale accuracy and unprecedented detail. We discuss the primary steps behind our most recent lightning imaging method. To demonstrate the capabilities of our technique we show and interpret images of the first few milliseconds of two intracloud flashes. In all our flashes, the negative leaders propagate in the charge layer below the main negative charge. Among several interesting features we show that in about 2 ms after initiation the primary initial leader triggers the formation of a multitude (>10) negative leaders in a rather confined area of the atmosphere. From these only one or two continue to propagate after about 30 ms to extend over kilometers horizontally while another may propagate back to the initiation point. We also show that normal negative leaders can transition into an initial leader like state, potentially in the presence of strong electric fields. In addition, we show some initial breakdown pulses that occurred during the primary initial leader, and even during two “secondary” initial leaders that developed out of stepped leaders.",

author = "Stijn Buitink and Olaf Scholten and Arthur Corstanje and Tim Huege and J{\"o}rg H{\"o}randel and Krampah, {Godwin Komla} and Pragati Mitra and Katharine Mulrey and Hershal Pandya and Rachen, {J{\"o}rg Paul}",

note = "Funding Information: The LOFAR cosmic ray key science project acknowledges funding from an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (FP/2007‐2013)/ERC Grant Agreement 227610. The project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement 640130). We furthermore acknowledge financial support from FOM (FOM‐project 12PR304). B. M. Hare is supported by the NWO (VI.VENI.192.071). A. Nelles is supported by the DFG (NE 2031/2‐1). T. Winchen is supported by DFG Grant 4946/1‐1. The work of I. Kolma{\v s}ov{\'a} and O. Santol{\'i}k was supported by the European Regional Development Fund‐Project CRREAT (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15‐003/0000481) and by the Praemium Academiae award of the Czech Academy of Sciences AS. The work of R. L{\'a}n and L. Uhl{\'i}{\v r} was supported by the GACR Grant 20‐09671S. K. Mulrey is supported by the FWO (FWO‐12ZD920N). T. N. G. Trinh acknowledges funding from the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under Grant 103.01‐2019.378. S. Thoudam acknowledges funding from the Khalifa University Startup grant (project code 8474000237). Funding Information: This paper is based on data obtained with the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT). LOFAR (van Haarlem et al., 2013 ) is the low‐frequency array designed and constructed by ASTRON. It has observing, data processing, and data storage facilities in several countries, that are owned by various parties (each with their own funding sources), and that are collectively operated by the ILT foundation under a joint scientific policy. The ILT resources have benefited from the following recent major funding sources: CNRS‐INSU, Observatoire de Paris and Universit{\'e} d'Orl{\'e}ans, France; BMBF, MIWF‐NRW, MPG, Germany; Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Department of Business, Enterprise, and Innovation (DBEI), Ireland; NWO, The Netherlands; The Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. The Authors. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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The Initial Stage of Cloud Lightning Imaged in High‐Resolution. / Buitink, Stijn; Scholten, Olaf; Corstanje, Arthur ; Huege, Tim ; Hörandel, Jörg; Krampah, Godwin Komla; Mitra, Pragati; Mulrey, Katharine; Pandya, Hershal; Rachen, Jörg Paul.

In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 126, Nr. 4, e2020JD033126, 27.02.2021.

Onderzoeksoutput: Article › peer review

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AB - With LOFAR we have been able to image the development of lightning flashes with meter-scale accuracy and unprecedented detail. We discuss the primary steps behind our most recent lightning imaging method. To demonstrate the capabilities of our technique we show and interpret images of the first few milliseconds of two intracloud flashes. In all our flashes, the negative leaders propagate in the charge layer below the main negative charge. Among several interesting features we show that in about 2 ms after initiation the primary initial leader triggers the formation of a multitude (>10) negative leaders in a rather confined area of the atmosphere. From these only one or two continue to propagate after about 30 ms to extend over kilometers horizontally while another may propagate back to the initiation point. We also show that normal negative leaders can transition into an initial leader like state, potentially in the presence of strong electric fields. In addition, we show some initial breakdown pulses that occurred during the primary initial leader, and even during two “secondary” initial leaders that developed out of stepped leaders.

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The Initial Stage of Cloud Lightning Imaged in High‐Resolution

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