The first electric field pulse of cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning discharges

Noor Azlinda Ahmad, M. Fernando, Z. A. Baharudin, M. Rahman, V. Cooray, Ziad Saleh, Joseph R. Dwyer, Hamid K. Rassoul

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, the first electric field pulse of cloud and cloud-to-ground discharges were analyzed and compared with other pulses of cloud discharges. Thirty eight cloud discharges and 101 cloud-to-ground discharges have been studied in this analysis. Pulses in cloud discharges were classified as 'small', 'medium' and 'large', depending upon the value of their relative amplitude with respect to that of the average amplitude of the five largest pulses in the flash. We found that parameters, such as pulse duration, rise time, zero crossing time and full-width at half-maximum (FWHMs) of the first pulse of cloud and cloud-to-ground discharges are similar to small pulses that appear in the later stage of cloud discharges. Hence, we suggest that the mechanism of the first pulse of cloud and cloud-to-ground discharges and the mechanism of pulses at the later stage of cloud discharges could be the same.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)143-150
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics
Volume72
Issue number2-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2010

Keywords

  • Cloud discharges
  • Electric field pulses
  • Electromagnetic field
  • Lightning

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