All Physics Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
32
Issue
L04809
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Publication Date
2-2005
First Page
1
Last Page
5
Abstract
A balloon payload launched in Brazil has measured vector electric fields from lightning at least an order of magnitude larger than previously reported above 30 km in the stratosphere. During the flight hundreds of lightning events were recorded, including several positive cloud to ground lightning strokes. A two stroke flash, with small (15 kA peak current) and moderate (53 kA) positive strokes at a horizontal range of 34 km, produced field changes over 140 V/m at 34 km altitude. On-board optical lightning detection, recorded with GPS timing, coupled with ground based lightning location gives high time resolution for study of the electric field transient propagation. These measurements imply that lightning electric fields in the mesosphere over large thunderstorms may be much larger than previously measured.
Recommended Citation
Holzworth, R.H., M.C. McCarthy, J.N. Thomas, J. Chin, T.M. Chinowsky, M.J. Taylor, and O.Pinto, Jr., Strong electric fields from positive lightning strokes in the stratosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L04809, doi:10.1029/2004GL021554, 2005
Comments
Published by the American Geophysical Union in Geophysical Research Letters.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2005/2004GL021554.shtml
Publisher PDF is available for download through the link above.