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Characteristics of upward-connecting-leader current leading to attachment in downward negative cloud-to-ground lightning strokes

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Research
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [3];  [3]
  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL (United States)
  2. Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL (United States); Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  3. Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL (United States)
  4. NASA Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, FL (United States); Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)
  5. NASA Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, FL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
For this work, we analyzed currents associated with upward connecting leaders (UCLs) initiated from the Kennedy Space Center Industrial Area Tower in two negative cloud-to-ground strokes that struck the tower. One stroke was also recorded using a high-speed video camera located 760 m from the KSC IAT. The NLDN-reported peak currents for the two strokes were – 31.7 and – 98.5 kA. During the UCL development phase the current waveforms exhibited a monotonically (quasi-exponentially) increasing “background” current overlaid with 10-μs scale pulses with a median amplitude of 51.1 A. The UCL current durations for the two strokes were 1039 and 449 μs, respectively. During the pre-attachment processes (UCL and slow front) the total negative charge effectively transferred to ground were 70.2 and 55 mC, respectively. For the stroke captured on high-speed video, the average line-charge-density for the 109-m long UCL was found to be 0.5 mC/m. The average UCL 2-D speed was 2.4 × 105 m/s, and it was observed to accelerate toward the downward leader prior to attachment. We observed that UCL-pulse amplitudes are larger, background currents are higher, and interpulse intervals are shorter at later times during UCLs, which can be attributed to the intensification of the local electric field due to the approaching downward negative leader. The median positive charge injected into the UCL by a pulse was 297 μC. The UCL associated with the higher peak-current stroke produced the highest injected pulse-charge values about three times sooner during its development, likely due to the 2–2.7 times faster average downward leader vertical speeds.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); US Air Force; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1994135
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-23-20951
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Research, Journal Name: Atmospheric Research Vol. 294; ISSN 0169-8095
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Attachment processes
Charge transferred to ground
Cloud-to-ground lightning
Current measurements
Upward connecting leaders
Upward positive leaders