Needle-like structures discovered on positively charged lightning branches

Hare BM, Scholten O, Dwyer J, Trinh TN, Buitink S, ter Veen S, Bonardi A, Corstanje A, Falcke H, Hörandel JR, Huege T, Mitra P, Mulrey K, Nelles A, Rachen JP, Rossetto L, Schellart P, Winchen T, Anderson J, Avruch IM, Bentum MJ, Blaauw R, Broderick JW, Brouw WN, Brüggen M, Butcher HR, Ciardi B, Fallows RA, de Geus E, Duscha S, Eislöffel J, Garrett MA, Grießmeier JM, Gunst AW, van Haarlem MP, Hessels JW, Hoeft M, van der Horst AJ, Iacobelli M, Koopmans LV, Krankowski A, Maat P, Norden MJ, Paas H, Pandey-Pommier M, Pandey VN, Pekal R, Pizzo R, Reich W, Rothkaehl H, Röttgering HJ, Rowlinson A, Schwarz DJ, Shulevski A, Sluman J, Smirnov O, Soida M, Tagger M, Toribio MC, van Ardenne A, Wijers RA, van Weeren RJ, Wucknitz O, Zarka P, Zucca P (2019)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Book Volume: 568

Pages Range: 360-363

Journal Issue: 7752

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1086-6

Abstract

Lightning is a dangerous yet poorly understood natural phenomenon. Lightning forms a network of plasma channels propagating away from the initiation point with both positively and negatively charged ends—called positive and negative leaders¹. Negative leaders propagate in discrete steps, emitting copious radio pulses in the 30–300-megahertz frequency band^2–8 that can be remotely sensed and imaged with high spatial and temporal resolution^9–11. Positive leaders propagate more continuously and thus emit very little high-frequency radiation¹². Radio emission from positive leaders has nevertheless been mapped^13–15, and exhibits a pattern that is different from that of negative leaders^{11–13,16,17}. Furthermore, it has been inferred that positive leaders can become transiently disconnected from negative leaders^{9,12,16,18–20}, which may lead to current pulses that both reconnect positive leaders to negative leaders^{11,16,17,20–22} and cause multiple cloud-to-ground lightning events¹. The disconnection process is thought to be due to negative differential resistance¹⁸, but this does not explain why the disconnections form primarily on positive leaders²², or why the current in cloud-to-ground lightning never goes to zero²³. Indeed, it is still not understood how positive leaders emit radio-frequency radiation or why they behave differently from negative leaders. Here we report three-dimensional radio interferometric observations of lightning over the Netherlands with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. We find small plasma structures—which we call ‘needles’—that are the dominant source of radio emission from the positive leaders. These structures appear to drain charge from the leader, and are probably the reason why positive leaders disconnect from negative ones, and why cloud-to-ground lightning connects to the ground multiple times.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Belgium (BE) Universität Hamburg (UHH) Germany (DE) Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg (TLS) - Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatorium Germany (DE) Astron Netherlands (NL) Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands (NL) Australian National University (ANU) Australia (AU) Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik / Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics Germany (DE) University of Manchester United Kingdom (GB) University of Orléans / Université d'Orléans France (FR) George Washington University (GWU) United States (USA) (US) Kapteyn Astronomical Institute Netherlands (NL) University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Netherlands (NL) Space Research Centre / Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Poland (PL) Leiden University Netherlands (NL) Universität Bielefeld Germany (DE) University of Amsterdam Netherlands (NL) Rhodes University South Africa (ZA) KVI-Center for Advanced Radiation Technology Netherlands (NL) Technische Universität Berlin Germany (DE) National Center for Scientific Research / Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) France (FR) Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences (IBCH PAS) / Instytut Chemii Bioorganicznej (IChB PAN) Poland (PL) Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie / Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Germany (DE) University of New Hampshire United States (USA) (US) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany (DE) University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn Poland (PL) Jagiellonian University / Uniwersytet Jagielloński (UJ) Poland (PL)

How to cite

APA:

Hare, B.M., Scholten, O., Dwyer, J., Trinh, T.N., Buitink, S., ter Veen, S.,... Zucca, P. (2019). Needle-like structures discovered on positively charged lightning branches. Nature, 568(7752), 360-363. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1086-6

MLA:

Hare, B. M., et al. "Needle-like structures discovered on positively charged lightning branches." Nature 568.7752 (2019): 360-363.

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