[1] Time correlated high-speed video and electromagnetic data for 15 cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning flashes reveal bursts of light, bright enough to be seen through intervening cloud, during the initial breakdown (IB) stage and within the first 3 ms after flash initiation. Each sudden increase in luminosity is coincident with a CG type (12 cases) or an IC type (3 cases) IB pulse in fast electric field change records. The E-change data for 217 flashes indicate that all CG and IC flashes have IB pulses. The luminosity bursts of 14 negative CG flashes occur 11-340 ms before the first return stroke, at altitudes of 4-8 km, and at 4-41 km range from the camera. In seven cases, linear segments visibly advance away from the first light burst for 55-200 ms, then the entire length dims, then the luminosity sequence repeats along the same path. These visible initial leaders or streamers lengthen intermittently to about 300-1500 m. Their estimated 2-D speeds are 4-18 Â 10 5 m s À1 over the first few hundred microseconds and decrease by about 50% over the first 2 ms. In other cases, only a bright spot or a broad area of diffuse light, presumably scattered by intervening cloud, is visible. The bright area grows larger over 20-60 ms before the luminosity fades in about 100 ms, then this sequence may repeat several times. In several flashes, a 1-2 ms period of little or no luminosity and small E-change is observed following the IB stage prior to stepped leader development.

[1] Initial breakdown pulses (IBPs) observed in the fast electric field change (E-change) at the beginning of intracloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes are located using a time-of-arrival technique called Position By Fast Antenna (PBFA) with data from a network of 10 E-change sensors located at Kennedy Space Center. Location errors, estimated using a Monte Carlo method, are usually less than 100 m for horizontal coordinates and several hundreds of meters for altitude, depending on distance to the sensors and altitude of the source. Comparison of PBFA source locations to locations from a VHF lightning mapping system (Lightning Detection and Ranging II (LDAR2)) shows that PBFA locates most of the "classic" IBPs while LDAR2 locates only a few percent of them. As the flash develops during the IB stage, PBFA and LDAR2 obtain similar locations when they detect the same IBPs. The overall vertical motion indicated by the PBFA positions of IBPs was downward with time for CG flashes and upward with time for IC flashes. Location of the fast pulses due to return strokes of CG flashes is also determined using PBFA. Comparison to locations from the Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Surveillance System (CGLSS) shows that PBFA reliably locates ground strokes. These results are verified using ground truth data acquired with a high-speed video camera. After cross calibration with the CGLSS data set, peak currents of return strokes are also determined.

[1] Based on analyses of high-speed video recordings of cloud-to-ground lightning in Brazil and the USA, the characteristics of positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) leaders are presented. The high frame rates permitted the average, 2-dimensional speeds of development along the paths of the channels to be resolved with good accuracy. The values range from 0.3 to 6.0 Â 10 5 ms À1 with a mean of 2.7 Â 10 5 ms À1. Contrary to what is usually assumed, downward +CG leader speeds are similar to downward ÀCG leader speeds. Our observations also show that the speeds tend to increase by a factor of 1.1 to 6.5 as they approach the ground. The presence of short duration, recoil leaders (RLs) during the development of positive leaders reveal a highly branched structure that is not usually recorded when using conventional photographic and video cameras. The existence of the RLs may help to explain observations of UHF-VHF radiation during the development of +CG flashes. Citation: Saba, M. M. F.,

[1] We report on upward lightning observations from ten tall towers (91-191 m) in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA and compare with National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) data. A total of 81 upward flashes were observed from 2004-2010 using GPS time-stamped optical sensors, and in all but one case, visible flash activity preceded the development of the upward leaders. Time-correlated analysis showed that the NLDN recorded an event within 50 km of towers and within 500 ms prior to upward leader development from the tower(s) for 83% (67/81) of the upward flashes. A preceding positive cloud-to-ground stroke (+CG) was detected in 57% (46/81) of the cases, and a preceding positive intracloud flash (+IC) in 23% (19/81) of the cases. However, 8 of the 19 NLDN-indicated +IC events were actually +CG strokes based on optical observations. Preceding negative intracloud flashes (ÀIC) were recorded for 2% (2/81) of the cases. Analysis also showed that for 44% (36/81) of the upward flashes, the NLDN reported subsequent negative cloud-to-ground (ÀCG) strokes and/or ÀIC events at one or more tower locations. Of the 151 subsequent events, 70% (105/151) were ÀCG reports and 30% (46/151) were listed as ÀIC events. The geometric mean/median location accuracy and peak current for subsequent events were 194 m/206 m and À12.9 kA/À12.4 kA respectively. These correlated observations suggest that a majority of the upward lightning flashes were triggered by a preceding flash with the dominant triggering type being the +CG flash.

Why lightning sometimes has multiple discharges to ground is an unanswered question. Recently, the observation of small plasma structures on positive leaders re-ignited the search. These small plasma structures were observed as pulsing radio sources along the positive leader length and were named “needles”. Needles may be the missing link in explaining why lightning flickers with multiple discharges, but this requires further confirmation. In this work we present the first optical observations of these intriguing plasma structures. Our high-speed videos show needles blinking in slow motion in a sequential mode. We show that they are formed at unsuccessful leader branches, are as bright as the lightning leaders, and report several other optical characteristics.