Upward lightning observations from towers in Rapid City, South Dakota and comparison with National Lightning Detection Network data, 2004–2010

Warner, Tom A.; Cummins, K. L.; Orville, Richard E.

doi:10.1029/2012jd018346

Cited by 111 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…If we assume that a leader could only propagate if it has active negative and positive ends, then the recoil events themselves likely are small bidirectional systems: The original positive leader is their positive end, their negative end crawls back along the previously formed channel system. This was speculated by Williams [2006] and appears confirmed by high-speed camera recordings of Warner et al [2012].…”

Section: Summary Of Observationsmentioning

confidence: 52%

Asymmetries in bidirectional leader development of lightning flashes

Velde

Montanyà

2013

JGR Atmospheres

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Lightning flashes develop as a bidirectional tree, with a negative and a positive end propagating simultaneously into cloud charges of the opposite polarity. In recent years, this process has been modeled assuming that the bidirectional channel remains a zero‐net‐charge perfect conductor starting at the electric potential of its initial location. So far, both leader ends were treated identically. We summarize characteristics of bidirectional leader development of various lightning flashes registered by the Ebro 3‐D Lightning Mapping Array at the east coast of Spain, supplemented by high‐speed camera records. In order to follow the horizontal development of positive and negative leaders over time, a time‐distance‐altitude graph was designed, using the flash origin or a cloud‐to‐ground stroke as reference. The examples confirm that negative and positive leaders propagate at characteristic horizontal speeds (105 and 2 · 104 m s−1). The positive leader's low apparent speed corresponds to the phase when recoil processes are active. Very fast negative leaders (up to 8 · 105 m s−1) are detected in association with positive cloud‐to‐ground strokes. Negative leaders respawn repeatedly from the origin or as a retrograde negative leader at the positive branch. Positive leaders remain propagating throughout the flash or until reaching ground. We show that the velocity difference shifts the potential of the leader, increasing the gradient with cloud charge at the positive end while reducing it at the negative end. The positive section lowers its potential through retrograde negative leaders, eventually making it possible to emit a new negative leader into the upper positive potential well.

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Section: Summary Of Observationsmentioning

confidence: 52%

Asymmetries in bidirectional leader development of lightning flashes

Velde

Montanyà

2013

JGR Atmospheres

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“…In order to produce a stable leader, the field needs to increase at the tip of turbine (Bazelyan and Raizer, 1998). This increase of the electric field can be produced thanks to the fast neutralization of charge produced in a CG (e.g., Warner et al, 2012 andMontanyà et al, 2014b) or an IC flash. Because of the slow ion mobility of the space charge at the tip of the turbine, the electric field is not screened and it is increased.…”

Section: Lightning Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global distribution of winter lightning: a threat to wind turbines and aircraft

Montanyà

Fabró

Velde

et al. 2016

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Lightning is one of the major threats to multimegawatt wind turbines and a concern for modern aircraft due to the use of lightweight composite materials. Both wind turbines and aircraft can initiate lightning, and very favorable conditions for lightning initiation occur in winter thunderstorms. Moreover, winter thunderstorms are characterized by a relatively high production of very energetic lightning. This paper reviews the different types of lightning interactions and summarizes the well-known winter thunderstorm areas. Until now comprehensive maps of global distribution of winter lightning prevalence to be used for risk assessment have been unavailable. In this paper we present the global winter lightning activity for a period of 5 years. Using lightning location data and meteorological re-analysis data, six maps are created: annual winter lightning stroke density, seasonal variation of the winter lightning and the annual number of winter thunderstorm days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the maps confirmed Japan to be one of the most active regions but other areas such as the Mediterranean and the USA are active as well. In the Southern Hemisphere, Uruguay and surrounding area, the southwestern Indian Ocean and the Tasman Sea experience the highest activity. The maps provided here can be used in the development of a risk assessment.

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“…Warner et al compared the upward lightning from ten towers in Rapid City, USA with National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) data (see [10]). Their finding suggests that the majority of the upward lightning were other-triggered ones.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Self-initiated and other-triggered positive upward lightning measured at the Peissenberg Tower, Germany

Heidler

Manhardt

Stimper

2014

2014 International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP)

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Subject matter of the paper is the analysis of the total of six positive upward lightning initiated from the Peissenberg Tower, Germany. Three of them were so-called "self-initiated" upward lightning without nearby preceding lightning activity.The other three were so-called "other-triggered" ones which occurred during nearby lightning activity.It appears that the other-triggered ones were downward lightning involving an extremely long upward connecting leader.The arithmetic means were 2.3 x 10 5 mls for the leader velocity and 1.02 x 10-3 Clm for the leader charge density. The first current component, however, was more consistent with the initial continuous current (ICC) of an upward lightning. The arithmetic means for the current duration, the current maximum and charge were 15.7 ms, 4.37 kA, and 13.3 C. The ICC started with an initial slowly rising section lasting about one millisecond. During this initial period the ICC was rather low in the range of several tens up to more than one hundred of amperes and superimposed by a series of very weak current pulses. The arithmetic means of the pulse peak, the pulse duration, the pulse charge and the inter-pulse interval were 0.49 kA, 9.6Ils, 1.76 mC, and 22.7 Ils. After the initial slowly rising section, the ICC suddenly increased to several kilo-amperes. During this subsequent section, much stronger current pulsation occurred. The arithmetic means were 5.3 kA for the pulse peak, 46.6 IlS for the pulse duration, 93 mC for the pulse charge, and 49.4 IlS for the inter-pulse interval. The ICC of the self-initiated upward lightning did not have such an initial slowly rising current section with weak superimposed current pulses. The ICC immediately increased to several kilo amperes involving strong current pulsation. For the ICC, the mean values were 58 ms for the duration, 6.4 kA for the maximum, and 105 C for the charge. For the superimposed current pulses, the mean values were 5.7 kA for the pulse peak, 19 IlS for the pulse duration, 53 mC for the pulse charge, and 23IlS for the inter-pulse interval. For the upward leader, the charge densities were in the range of 10 mClm or even more. This value is about one order of magnitude higher compared to the charge density of the other triggered positive upward lightning.

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Upward lightning observations from towers in Rapid City, South Dakota and comparison with National Lightning Detection Network data, 2004–2010

Cited by 111 publications

References 30 publications

Asymmetries in bidirectional leader development of lightning flashes

Asymmetries in bidirectional leader development of lightning flashes

Global distribution of winter lightning: a threat to wind turbines and aircraft

Self-initiated and other-triggered positive upward lightning measured at the Peissenberg Tower, Germany

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