HR: 14:44h
AN: AE43A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Lightning charge-transport measured by field-changes aloft
AU: * Sonnenfeld, R
EM: rsonnenf@nmt.edu
AF: Langmuir Laboratory & Physics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: Winn, W P
EM: winn@loon.nmt.edu
AF: Langmuir Laboratory & Physics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: Battles, J
AE43A-05 AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Lu, G
EM: gplu@nmt.edu
AF: Langmuir Laboratory & Physics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: Peischl, J
AE43A-05 AF: Langmuir Laboratory & Physics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: Walden-Newman, W
AE43A-05 AF: Langmuir Laboratory & Physics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AB: Analysis of vector \vec{E} field-changes aloft is beginning to yield information about the amount of charge transported in lightning flashes. A single field-change device obtained data from 6 storms in the Magdalena mountains of New Mexico. Field-change data were correlated with lightning-mapping array (LMA) data. The first finding is that the two types of data correspond in a sensible way on a time scales of 100 μ s (The time-resolution of the field-change instrument.). The second finding is the direction and magnitude of observed field-changes for intra-cloud flashes can be generally predicted by placing negative charges along the lightning channel at the locations given by the LMA data points. The third finding is that the minimum charge that needs to be transported to produce the observed changes in Flash "A" (Centered at 33.982°N, 107.091°W on 8/18/2004 at 20:12:41Z) is 5 Coulombs. The fourth finding is that Flash "A" can be initially modeled as simply transporting a lumped charge from the initial to the terminal point of the LMA-visible channel, and that the direction of the horizontal \vec{E} field changes in such a way as to point directly at the terminal point of the channel. Details of the instrument, its calibration, and the methodology for correlating field-change with LMA data will be discussed.
DE: 0694 Instruments and techniques
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
DE: 3324 Lightning
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005