Preliminary breakdown pulses of cloud-to-ground lightning in winter thunderstorms in Japan

Wu, Ting; Takayanagi, Yuji; Funaki, Tsuyoshi; Yoshida, Shigeaki; Ushio, Tomoo; Kawasaki, Zen‐Ichiro; Morimoto, Takeshi; Shimizu, Masahito

doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2013.05.014

Cited by 47 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…It is statistically significant at the 99.9% confidence level. Similar trends were previously observed in Florida [12], Japan [25], and China [26]. …”

Section: Characteristics Of Pb Pulse Trainssupporting

confidence: 89%

A Study of Preliminary Breakdown and Return Stroke Processes in High-Intensity Negative Lightning Discharges

2016

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Abstract:Using an automated data processing algorithm, we examined electric field records of 5498 negative cloud-to-ground flashes reported by the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) within 50 to 500 km of the Lightning Observatory in Gainesville (LOG), Florida. Out of the 5498 flashes, 3496 (64%) had detectable preliminary breakdown (PB) pulse trains. Only 3077 flashes with a single PB pulse train and NLDN-reported first-return-stroke (RS) peak current ≥50 kA were selected for detailed analysis. The arithmetic mean values of PB pulse train duration, PB-RS interval, and PB/RS pulse peak ratio were 2.7 ms, 8.8 ms, and 0.15, respectively. The PB-RS interval was found to decrease with increasing RS peak current (Spearman correlation coefficient was statistically significant and equal to −0.80). The range-normalized PB pulse peak exhibited statistically significant positive correlation with the RS peak current, with Spearman correlation coefficient being 0.48. Thus, it appears that the high-intensity (≥50 kA) negative lightning is characterized by shorter (and, by inference, faster) stepped leaders and more pronounced PB pulse trains.

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“…It is statistically significant at the 99.9% confidence level. Similar trends were previously observed in Florida [12], Japan [25], and China [26]. …”

Section: Characteristics Of Pb Pulse Trainssupporting

confidence: 89%

A Study of Preliminary Breakdown and Return Stroke Processes in High-Intensity Negative Lightning Discharges

2016

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“…It was found that it ranged from 0.03 to 0.37 with AM, GM, SD, while the median values were 0.13, 0.11, 0.08 and 0.1, respectively. Furthermore, the AM values from previous researches at different latitudes, as reported by Zhu et al, (29°) [10]; Marshall et al, (29°) [9]; Wu et al, (35°) [6] and Baharuddin et al, (1°) [7], were 0.23, 0.20, 0.47, and 0.27, respectively. Our AM and GM values were 2-4 time smaller than those from the different regions and seasons reported by other researchers.…”

Section: A4 Pb/rs Ratiomentioning

confidence: 52%

“…The minimum, the median and the maximum values of the separation were 3.79 ms, 6.87 ms and 19.08 ms, respectively. Meanwhile, the AM value from previous studies as reported by Zhu et al [10], Marshall et al [9], Wu et al [6] and Baharuddin et al [7] were 24 ms, 43 ms, 3.6 ms and 22 ms, respectively. We cannot explain why our average value was smaller than that from other locations in summer.…”

Section: A3 Pb-rs Separationmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…[10], Baharuddin et al [7], and Nag and Rakov [4] were 2.2 ms, 12.3 ms, and 3.4 ms respectively in summer. Wu et al [6] reported 0.67 ms in winter. Our AM value is the smallest PBP train duration from the summer season and larger than that in winter.…”

Section: A2 Pbp Train Durationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…A larger LPCR causes the direction of negative leader propagation to be predominantly horizontal, even though finally the stepped leader propagates toward the ground. Meanwhile, a smaller LPCR causes negative stepped leader propagation to be predominantly vertical [5][6]. The time separation between PBPs and RS is approximately several milliseconds to hundreds of milliseconds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Some Characteristics of Multiple Stroke Negative Cloud to Ground Lightning Flashes in Padang

Hazmi¹,

Emeraldi²,

Hamid³

et al. 2016

ijeei

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The characteristics of multiple stroke negative cloud to ground (CG) lightning flashes in Padang, Indonesia based on electric field recording were investigated. 100 negative CG lightning flashes containing 623 strokes, recorded from August to October 2014, were examined. It was observed that all first return strokes (RS) negative CG lightning flashes were preceded by preliminary breakdown pulses (PBPs). However, only 40% of the detecable PBP trains could be analyzed statistically on PBP train duration, PBP-RS separation, and PBP/RS ratio, while the detectable leader pulses was 69%. In addition, it was also found that the arithmetic mean (AM) and maximum number of strokes were 5.2 and 18, respectively. The AM and geometric mean (GM) interstroke interval were 55.34 and 34.71 ms, respectively. Furthermore, 2% of the subsequent return stroke (SRS) peak electric fields were larger than those of the first return stroke (RS). The AM and GM ratios of SRS/RS were 0.36 and 0.3, respectively.Keywords: negative cloud to ground, preliminary breakdown, leader, return stroke, interstroke interval, peak electric field ratio IntroductionNegative cloud to ground (CG) lightning flashes is the most common type of CG discharges and has thereafter studied by many authors. A CG lightning flash usually contains preliminary breakdown pulses (PBPs) in the cloud and downward stepped leader (SL) propagation followed by the first return stroke (RS). The characteristics of a negative CG could largely be determined by the magnitude of the so called lower positive charge regions (LPCR) [1][2][3][4]. A larger LPCR causes the direction of negative leader propagation to be predominantly horizontal, even though finally the stepped leader propagates toward the ground. Meanwhile, a smaller LPCR causes negative stepped leader propagation to be predominantly vertical [5][6]. The time separation between PBPs and RS is approximately several milliseconds to hundreds of milliseconds. The generated electric field signature differentiates these processes. Nag and Rakov [5] stated that in negative CG lightning flashes, PBPs may not be detected on the first return stroke when the magnitude of the LPCR is very small. They claimed that CG lightning flashes vary in detectable PBP percentage according to latitude. Higher latitudes have a higher percentage of detectable PBPs than lower latitudes. In contrast, many researchers have argued that the first return stroke always involves PBPs in all negative CG flashes [7][8][9]. Their studies revealed that the detectable PBP percentage does not depend on latitude. A PBP can be detected if the amplitude of the PBP is above the noise level of the environment and electric field change sensors. However, Marshall et al. [9] have stated that they "cannot be certain that detection of PBPs always equals 100%" for all latitudes. In a more recent study, Zhu et al. [10] found that PBP detectability is not only affected by the sensor noise level but also by storm type, RS peak current and observation distance. The diffe...

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On the percentage of lightning flashes that begin with initial breakdown pulses

Marshall¹,

Stolzenburg²,

Karunarathne³

et al. 2014

JGR Atmospheres

110

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The initial breakdown (IB) stage of lightning flashes typically occurs in the first 20 ms of a flash and includes a series of IB pulses often detected with electric field change sensors. There is disagreement about the percentage of negative cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes that begin with IB pulses. This study includes new data on IB pulses in 198 CG flashes in Austria (latitude~48˚N), Florida, USA (~29˚N) and South Dakota, USA (~44˚N) with, respectively, 100%, 100%, and 95% of the flashes having IB pulses. The data indicate that the amplitude of the largest IB pulse, range normalized to 100 km, is often weak, < 0.5 V m À1 , with the lower latitude having a greater percentage (36%) of these weak maximum IB pulses than the higher latitude (11%). Since sensor noise levels are often larger than this value, detection of smaller amplitude IB pulses may be difficult. A similar result is seen in the amplitude ratio of the largest IB pulse to the first return stroke: at the lower latitude, 50% of flashes had a ratio < 0.1 versus 8% of flashes at the higher latitude. However, comparisons of the amplitude ratios from Austria (~48˚) and South Dakota (~44˚) do not support a simple latitude dependence. The data also show that 5-10% of IB pulses occur more than 100 ms before the first return stroke. These findings may explain why some previous studies found percentages <100%. Overall, the results indicate that all negative CG flashes probably begin with IB pulses.

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Preliminary breakdown pulses of cloud-to-ground lightning in winter thunderstorms in Japan

Cited by 47 publications

References 20 publications

A Study of Preliminary Breakdown and Return Stroke Processes in High-Intensity Negative Lightning Discharges

A Study of Preliminary Breakdown and Return Stroke Processes in High-Intensity Negative Lightning Discharges

Some Characteristics of Multiple Stroke Negative Cloud to Ground Lightning Flashes in Padang

On the percentage of lightning flashes that begin with initial breakdown pulses

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