Our basic knowledge of downward positive lightning leaders is incomplete due to their rarity and limited ability of VHF mapping systems to image positive streamers. Here, using high‐speed optical records and wideband electric field and magnetic field derivative signatures, we examine in detail the development of a descending positive leader, which extended intermittently via alternating branching at altitudes of 4.2 to 1.9 km and involved luminosity transients separated by millisecond‐scale quiet intervals. We show that the transients (a) are mostly initiated in previously created but already decayed branches, at a distance of the order of 100 m above the branch lower extremity, (b) extend bidirectionally with negative charge moving up, (c) establish a temporary (1 ms or so) steady‐current connection to the negative part of the overall bidirectional leader tree, and (d) exhibit brightening accompanied by new breakdowns at the positive leader end. One of the transients unexpectedly resulted in a negative cloud‐to‐ground discharge. Both positive and negative ends of the transients extended at speeds of 106–107 m/s, while the overall positive leader extension speed was as low as 103–104 m/s. Wideband electric field signatures of the transients were similar to K‐changes, with their millisecond‐ and microsecond‐scale features being associated with the steady current and new breakdowns, respectively. For transients with both ends visible in our optical records, charge transfers and average currents were estimated to be typically a few hundreds of millicoulombs and some hundreds of amperes, respectively.
Using visible‐range and infrared (3–5 μm) high‐speed video cameras, we observed luminosity transients that reilluminated decayed branches of two close (2 to 4 km) negative stepped leaders in Florida. Leader branches were energized via stepping at their tips and, as a result, were most heated near their lower ends, with the hotter sections being connected via cooler sections to the trunk. In the modeling of lightning leaders, usually a single tip is considered. In contrast, in the present study, many (up to 30 per major branch) tips were active at the same time, forming a network‐like structure with a descending multitip “ionization front” whose transverse dimensions were of the order of hundreds of meters. The front exhibited alternating stepping, with each step necessarily generating a positive charge wave traveling from the leader tip up along the channel, like a mini return stroke. We inferred that the step‐related waves can cause luminosity transients in the remnants of decayed negative branches at higher altitudes. Such reactivated branches, in turn, may facilitate further leader stepping at lower altitudes, as first reported by Stolzenburg et al. (2015,
- Award ID(s):
- 1701484
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10449287
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Volume:
- 125
- Issue:
- 23
- ISSN:
- 2169-897X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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