Lightning-induced extensive charge sheets provide long range electrostatic thunderstorm detection

Bennett, A. and Harrison, G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0693-347X (2013) Lightning-induced extensive charge sheets provide long range electrostatic thunderstorm detection. Physical Review Letters, 111 (4). 045003. ISSN 0031-9007 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.045003

Abstract/Summary

By combining electrostatic measurements of lightning-induced electrostatic field changes with radio frequency lightning location, some field changes from exceptionally distant lightning events are apparent which are inconsistent with the usual inverse cube of distance. Furthermore, by using two measurement sites, a transition zone can be identified beyond which the electric field response reverses polarity. For these severe lightning events, we infer a horizontally extensive charge sheet above a thunderstorm, consistent with a mesospheric halo of several hundred kilometers’ extent.