Origin of an Uncommon Multiple‐Stroke Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Flash With Different Terminations

Yuan, Shanfeng; Qie, Xiushu; Jiang, Rubin; Wang, Dongfang; Sun, Zhongchang; Srivastava, Abhay; Williams, Earle

doi:10.1029/2019jd032098

Cited by 31 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Excluding some subsequent strokes with extremely small time differences from previous strokes (Figure 8) and also considering the fact that in some cases the location results are not good enough to make a correct determination of the processes before the positive strokes, we believe that for most subsequent strokes in MS +CG flashes, positive leaders originate from in‐cloud negative channels. This conclusion is also consistent with the recent observation of a MS +CG flash by Yuan et al (2020).…”

Section: Inferences On Origins Of Positive Leaders For First and Subssupporting

confidence: 94%

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Multiple‐Stroke Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Observed by the FALMA in Winter Thunderstorms in Japan

Wang

Takagi

2020

JGR Atmospheres

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Multiple-stroke (MS) positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) lightning flashes are rarely reported, especially those with high-quality location information. In this study, we report 47 MS +CG flashes observed in winter thunderstorms in Japan with a 14-site fast antenna lightning mapping array (FALMA). MS +CG flashes account for 18% of +CG flashes. The mean multiplicity of all +CG flashes is 1.24, and the maximum multiplicity is 5. Interstroke intervals have a very large range from 1.0 to 1,320.6 ms with the geometric mean of 64.4 ms. In three flashes, interstroke intervals smaller than 2 ms are observed, and corresponding positive strokes are inferred to be produced by two branches of the same positive leader. Horizontal distances between sequential positive strokes range from 1.1 to 37.3 km with the geometric mean of 9.7 km. No subsequent strokes struck at the same location as a previous stroke. Distances between sequential strokes are generally much larger than distances between first strokes and lightning initiation locations. Subsequent stroke peak amplitudes are on average 0.45 of first stroke peak amplitudes. In 39 flashes (83%), the first stroke is stronger than the largest subsequent stroke in the same flash. Subsequent stroke amplitudes are weakly correlated with the time difference from the previous stroke. Origination mechanisms of positive leaders initiating first and subsequent positive strokes are discussed. It is very likely that positive leaders for most subsequent strokes originate from in-cloud negative leader channels, but origination mechanisms for positive leaders initiating first strokes are more varied.

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Section: Inferences On Origins Of Positive Leaders For First and Subssupporting

confidence: 94%

“…In this mechanism, the head of the defunct branch corresponds to the point with 0 distance in Figures 13a–13d. This mechanism is also consistent with the report by Yuan et al (2020) that a positive leader initiated from a decayed negative leader branch.…”

Section: Inferences On Origins Of Positive Leaders For First and Subssupporting

confidence: 93%

Multiple‐Stroke Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Observed by the FALMA in Winter Thunderstorms in Japan

Wang

Takagi

2020

JGR Atmospheres

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“…Similarly, our fast antenna detected no distinct VLF-VHF radiation during the propagation of the downward positive leader in this case. However, the ripple-like stepped pulses on the waveform of fast E-field change frequently appeared at about 1 ms before a +RS, as referred to in previous studies (Kong et al, 2015;Nag & Rakov, 2012;Yuan et al, 2020). For now, it is unknown which physical process produced the LF/VLF radiation just 1 ms before a +RS.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Two Kinds Of Side Discharges From the Negative Leadermentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Later, Nag and Rakov (2012) presented a sketch map of the inferred process that the downward positive leader initiated from the cutoff point of a negative leader, then van der Velde et al (2014) proposed a similar scenario after investigating 35 sprite-producing +CG flashes. Recent studies based on the LF 3D mapping technique have found that the occurrence of uncommon multiple-stroke +CG lightning with different terminations is also related to the downward positive leader developing from the horizontal negative channel (Wu et al, 2020b;Yuan et al, 2020). Furthermore, bipolar lightning, containing upward and downward CG lightning, was also related to the occurrence of such kind of side discharges, which play an important role in reversing the polarity of the charge into the ground (Rakov, 2003;Saba et al, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Side Discharges From the Active Negative Leaders in a Positive Cloud‐To‐Ground Lightning Flash

Yuan

Jiang

Qie

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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When lightning develops as a bidirectional leader in a thunderstorm, there is asymmetry of characteristic horizontal speed between positive leaders (2 × 10 4 m s −1 ) and negative leaders (10 5 m s −1 ), as confirmed by many researchers (van der Velde & Montanyà, 2013;Williams & Heckman, 2012;Wu et al., 2019b). In addition, the negative leaders propagated in a stepping branching way (Jiang et al., 2017;Qi et al., 2016), while positive leaders propagated more smoothly and often accompanied by frequent recoil leaders (Saba et al., 2008). It is reasonable that a normal +CG flash starts as a bidirectional leader with initial negative leaders propagating upward and positive leaders propagating downward and making a connection to the ground (S. Li et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2018b). But for +CG lightning with a large charge moment, which has the potential to induce sprites at an altitude of 40-90 km above a thunderstorm or upward lightning from tall buildings on the ground, it usually involves an extensive horizontal negative leader channel propagating into the stratiform region (

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“…The downward positive leader in our case was a bifurcation of the positive polarity branch of the IC discharge. In fact, the +CG leader could emanate from IC discharges of either polarity (Saba et al., 2009; Yuan et al., 2020).…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Documented Downward Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Initiated by an Upward Negative Lightning

Jiang

Lyu

et al. 2021

JGR Atmospheres

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An interesting downward positive cloud‐to‐ground lightning (DPCG) initiated by an upward negative cloud‐to‐ground lightning (UNCG) was recorded by the instruments installed at the Tall‐Object Lightning Observatory in Guangzhou. The characteristics of the discharges before and after the DPCG return stroke were investigated in detail using both optical and electric field change data. The UNCG was triggered from the tip of the Canton Tower (600 m high) by a distant +CG lightning. A sequence of intracloud (IC) discharges developed toward and connected to several pre‐existing channels of the UNCG. As a result, some positive charge was pumped from remote thundercloud regions to the region around the intersection of the pre‐existing and new channels. A branch of one IC channel developed from the intersection point toward the ground, transformed into a downward positive leader, terminated on the ground, and resulted in a positive return stroke. After that, the discharge processes in the cloud continued to neutralize the remaining positive charge. The UNCG served to facilitate the IC discharges that supplied positive charges for the DPCG. Most of the charge involved in the UNCG‐initiated DPCG originated from remote positively charged regions in the cloud. These observations constitute evidence for a new scenario of the initiation of +CG lightning.

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Origin of an Uncommon Multiple‐Stroke Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Flash With Different Terminations

Cited by 31 publications

References 41 publications

Multiple‐Stroke Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Observed by the FALMA in Winter Thunderstorms in Japan

Multiple‐Stroke Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Observed by the FALMA in Winter Thunderstorms in Japan

Side Discharges From the Active Negative Leaders in a Positive Cloud‐To‐Ground Lightning Flash

First Documented Downward Positive Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Initiated by an Upward Negative Lightning

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