Abstract
THE variation or “recovery” of the electric field at the ground after a lightning discharge tends to be approximately exponential, and Wilson1 pointed out that this could be explained either by a constant charging current with a dissipation current proportional to the charge in the thundercloud or by a charging current which is reduced as the charge in the cloud grows. Freier2 considers that the first of these possibilities implies that the conductivity within the thundercloud is at least eighteen times the conductivity of the clear air, and Colgate3 believes that this high conductivity is explicable in terms of the redistribution of charge through turbulence. Sartor4 has compared the recovery curve with computed equations for the field increase within the cloud.
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References
Wilson, C. T. R., Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., A, 221, 73 (1920).
Freier, G. D., J. Geophys. Res., 67, 4683 (1962).
Colgate, S. A., in Planetary Electrodynamics, Vol. II, 143 (Gordoif and Breach, New York, 1969).
Sartor, J. D., J. Atmos. Sci., 24, 601 (1967).
Holzer, R. E., and Saxon, D. S., J. Geophys. Res., 57, 207 (1952).
Smith, L. G., in Recent Advances in Atmospheric and Spact Electricity, 299 (Pergamon Press, 1958).
Tamura, Y., J. Geomag. Geoelec, 6, 34 (1954).
Kasemir, W. H., in Problems in Atmospheric and Space Electricity, 214 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1965).
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ILLINGWORTH, A., WORMELL, T. Electric Field Recovery after Lightning. Nature Physical Science 229, 213–214 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/physci229213a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/physci229213a0
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