A study of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes initiated by fast positive breakdown

Ahmad, Mohd Riduan and Mohammad Sabri, Muhammad Haziq and Al-Kahtani, Ammar Ahmed and Shamsul Baharin, Shamsul Ammar and Ab Kadir, Mohd Zainal Abidin and Nordin, Farah Hani and Lu, Gaopeng and Zhang, Hongbo and Williams, Earle and Cooray, Vernon (2022) A study of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes initiated by fast positive breakdown. Atmospheric Research, 276. pp. 1-13. ISSN 0169-8095

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Abstract

In this paper, we examine the initiation event of two tropical negative cloud to ground (CG) lightning flashes within reversal distance (<8 km) detected on 12 (CG1) and 24 (CG2) November 2019, respectively. The CG flashes were recorded using a fast antenna (FA), slow antenna (SA), magnetic field (B-field), and very high frequency (VHF) sensors located at two observation stations (ST1 and ST2) 13.26 km apart. The key finding is that CG1 flash was initiated by a short VHF pulse followed by a VHF burst (fast positive breakdown) while CG2 flash was initiated by a VHF burst (fast positive breakdown) not preceded by a short VHF pulse. The VHF burst was a precursor for initiation of a narrow bipolar event (NBE)-like pulse and initial electric field changes (IECs). Based on the VHF interferometer map, the VHF sources of NBE-like pulses have been propagated upward predominantly vertical. The initiation altitude, total length of the VHF sources propagation, estimated velocity of NBE-like pulse for CG1 flash were 4.5 ± 0.5 km, 1.9–3.8 km, and 2.4 × 108 to 4.8 × 108 ms−1, respectively, and for CG2 flash were 5.1 ± 0.8 km, 0.2–3.0 km, and 2.7 × 107 to 4.1 × 108 ms−1, respectively. It is evident that IECs process has been initiated during fast positive streamers propagation. It can be suggested that the IECs process resulted from charge transfer during a fast positive breakdown. The durations and magnitudes of IECs for CG1 flash were 248.5 μs and 27.97 V/m, respectively, and for CG2 flash were 265.8 μs and 2.31 V/m, respectively.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Fast breakdown, Initial breakdown pulse, Initial electric field change, Interferometer narrow bipolar event
Divisions:	Faculty of Electronics and Computer Engineering
Depositing User:	Sabariah Ismail
Date Deposited:	28 Mar 2023 14:12
Last Modified:	30 May 2023 11:42
URI:	http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/26369
Statistic Details:	View Download Statistic

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