The charge transferred to ground in cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes is probably the most obvious transient current in the global electric circuit. However, many CG flashes also produce transient increases in the electric field (E) above the thundercloud; this E produces a transient current in the global circuit. Intracloud (IC) flashes also cause above cloud transient currents. In this presentation we combine balloon E data, Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) data, and fast antenna data to estimate the charge moved from cloud to ground by individual CG flashes and the charge moved within a cloud by individual IC flashes. Using these data in an electrodynamic model simulation, we estimate the charge moved between cloud top and the ionosphere by the above-cloud transient E due to both types of flashes. The main goal of this study is to compare the transient currents due to CG and IC lightning above and below the parent thunderstorm.
C. Maggio R. Thomas T. Hamlin M. Stanley S. Cummer T. Marshall M. Stolzenburg B. Ray E. Mareev S.Davydneko S.Yashunin P. Krehbiel W.Rison
University of Mississippi, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University, MS 38677, United States New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Socorro Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545, United States FMA Research, INC., Jemez Springs, NM 87025, United States Department of Electrical Engineering, Duke University, Box 90291, Durham, NC 27708, United States Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Plasma Physics and High Power Electronics