The radar observation of lightning

Ligda, Myron G. H.

doi:10.1016/0021-9169(56)90152-0

Cited by 55 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Other evidence that discharges to ground develop horizontally in a storm, and that the extent of this development can be considerable, has come from a variety of observations. These consist of photographs of the luminous extent of a discharge [Malan, 1956a], visual and video observations of the luminous development of flashes [Brook and Vonnegut, 1960;Brantley et al, 1975], thunder observations [Sourdillon, 1952;Nakano, 1973Nakano, , 1976Teer and Few, 1974], radar observations of the channel within the cloud [Ligda, 1956], observations of horizontal displacement between the center of charge and the visible channel of flashes to ground [Jacobson and Krider, 1976], and observations of the sources of VHF radiation from discharges' [Proctor, 1976]. Proctor's studies, made in South Africa on storms similar to those studied by M alan and Schonland, showed that the radiation sources of most flashes to ground had large horizontal extents within the cloud and tended to cluster in groups, beginning at or near precipitation boundaries.…”

Section: Dipolar Charge Motion During the Intervals Between Strokes Wmentioning

confidence: 75%

An analysis of the charge structure of lightning discharges to ground

Krehbiel¹,

Brook²,

McCrory³

1979

J. Geophys. Res.

345

257

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Sources of charge for the individual strokes of four multiple‐stroke flashes to ground have been determined, using measurements of the electrostatic field change obtained at eight locations on the ground beneath the storm. The resulting charge locations have been compared to 3‐cm radar measurements of precipitation structure in the storm. The field changes of individual strokes were found to be reasonably consistent with the lowering to ground of a localized or spherically symmetric charge in the cloud. The centers of charge for successive strokes of each flash developed over large horizontal distances within the cloud, up to 8 km, at more or less constant elevation between the −9° and −17°C environmental (clear air) temperature levels. Comparison with the radar measurements has shown that the discharges developed through the full horizontal extent of the precipitating region of the storm and appeared to be bounded within this extent. In one instance where cellular structure of the storm was apparent, the strokes selectively discharged regions where the precipitation echo was the strongest. Vertical extent of the stroke charge locations was small in comparison with the vertical extent of the storm. The field changes in the intervals between strokes have been found to exhibit many of the features which Malan and Schonland used to infer that ground flashes discharge a nearly vertical column of charge in the cloud. This and other evidence is used to show that their observations, which were made at a single station, could instead have been of horizontally developing discharges. The interstroke field changes have been analyzed using a point dipole model and found to correspond to predominantly horizontal charge motion that was closely associated with the ground stroke sources for the flashes. The interstroke activity served effectively to transport negative charge in the direction of earlier stroke volumes and often persisted in the vicinity of an earlier stroke volume, while subsequent strokes discharged more distant regions of the cloud. Long‐duration field changes that sometimes preceded the first stroke of a flash have been analyzed and found to correspond to a series of vertical and horizontal breakdown events within the cloud, prior to development of a leader to ground. These events were associated in part with the negative charge region that became the source of the first stroke and effectively transported negative charge away from the first stroke charge volume and from the charge volumes of subsequent strokes. Several continuing current discharges were found also to progress horizontally within the cloud and sustained currents in the range of 580 A to less than 50 A. The continuing current field changes were consistently better fitted by the monopole charge model than the field changes of discrete strokes within the same flash.

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Section: Dipolar Charge Motion During the Intervals Between Strokes Wmentioning

confidence: 75%

An analysis of the charge structure of lightning discharges to ground

Krehbiel¹,

Brook²,

McCrory³

1979

J. Geophys. Res.

345

257

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“…This appears to be the first time that discharges of this remarkable size are documented in Europe. In the United States, such observations date back to 1956 [ Ligda , 1956] and have become known as “spider lightning” [ Mazur et al , 1998]. Note that the term spider lightning is usually applied to large horizontal lightning channels under the base of the cloud which are visible to an observer on the ground.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal evolution of horizontally extensive lightning discharges associated with sprite‐producing positive cloud‐to‐ground flashes in northeastern Spain

et al. 2010

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[1] During the evening of 6 August 2008, a small mesoscale convective system (MCS) entered the area of radar and 2-D interferometric lightning detection system coverage in northeastern Spain and produced 17 sprites recorded by a camera at only 95-180 km distance. This study presents an analysis of the in-cloud component of the spriteassociated lightning flashes and those of other flashes. The analysis focuses on the horizontal development of sprite-producing lightning by discussing three examples, divided into the periods before the positive cloud-to-ground flash (+CG), between +CG and the end of the sprite, and the period after the sprite. Location and horizontal size of sprites appear to be well explained by the temporal and spatial development of the lightning path. The majority of sprite-producing discharges started directly at the rear side of developing and mature convective cores within the decaying MCS, either with the +CG or with preceding negative leaders. The +CG started a burst of VHF sources during which the sprite developed. Delayed carrot sprites developed after a secondary, smaller burst and were well collocated with the burst toward the rear of the MCS. The order of development of elements in a grouped sprite followed the direction of lightning propagation during the burst stage. The second part of the analysis concentrates on the metrics of sequences of VHF sources and shows that sprites are indeed produced by the largest, longest lasting discharges with particularly large line-perpendicular dimensions (37 km median compared with 11 km for +CG >25 kA).Citation: van der Velde, O. A., J. Montanyà, S. Soula, N. Pineda, and J. Bech (2010), Spatial and temporal evolution of horizontally extensive lightning discharges associated with sprite-producing positive cloud-to-ground flashes in northeastern Spain,

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“…The effects of channel tortuosity have been considered in detail by Hewitt [1957]. Exquisitely beautiful radar pictures of lightning were recorded by Ligda [1956], and a paper by Atlas [1958] showed the 'arcangels' in vertical section. Recently, Holmes et al [1980] published new results that were supplemented by acoustic pictures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Radar observations of lightning

Proctor¹

1981

J. Geophys. Res.

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Radar echoes from lightning were observed at wavelengths of 5.5, 50, and 111 cm. The 50‐cm and the 111‐cm radars produced strong echoes from every flash that we saw passing through the beams of the radars. Echoes were particularly strong on the radar with the longest pulse. Echoes received on radars that transmitted pulses 200 ns long consisted of short components. Some flashes reflected only one echo, but usually there were many more, and as many as 30 separate components of echoes have been counted. No echoes were detected by the 3‐cm radar set, presumably because its pulse repetition rate was too low. A very small number of flashes produced detectable echoes at 5.5 cm, although many flashes were seen passing through the beam of the radar. These echoes behaved in either of two ways. Occasionally we saw strong echoes that appeared singly and moved rapidly in range, and we ascribed these to the tips of underdense channels. Stationary echoes that extended in range to become multiple echoes similar to those we observed at VHF were seen at 5.5 cm also, and we supposed that they were reflected by many channel segments that happened to be overdense at 5.5 GHz. This paper supplies data relating to the mean values and to the dispersion of radar cross‐sectional areas of lightning channels viewed by VHF radar.

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The radar observation of lightning

Cited by 55 publications

References 10 publications

An analysis of the charge structure of lightning discharges to ground

An analysis of the charge structure of lightning discharges to ground

Spatial and temporal evolution of horizontally extensive lightning discharges associated with sprite‐producing positive cloud‐to‐ground flashes in northeastern Spain

Radar observations of lightning

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