Investigating Storm Charge Distribution Trends with Intracloud Lightning Polarity Data

There are, at present, two accepted primary paradigms for thunderstorm charge distribution using a simple tripole model: “normal” polarity storms, which are characterized by a central negative charge region, an upper positive charge region, and sometimes a lower positive charge region; and “inverted” polarity storms, which are characterized by a central positive charge region, an upper negative charge region, and sometimes a lower negative charge region. The real distribution of thunderstorm charge is known to be more complex than the tripole model can represent, but the normal/inverted paradigm is still widely used in the field. Characterizing storms as having a normal or inverted polarity has been a subject of interest in lightning research since discovering that inverted storms produce a larger-than-average fraction of positive amplitude cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning compared with normal storms. +CG lightning is understood to have generally higher peak currents and a much greater probability of producing continuing current than -CGs, which is relevant for research into subjects like lightning-initiated wildfires and transient luminous events. Thunderstorm charge distribution is also directly related to storm microphysics and thermodynamics, which, in turn, links it to the meteorological characteristics of storms and storm environments.

Most published research on storm polarity has either investigated large-scale trends in +CG versus -CG frequency from long-range lightning detection systems (LDSs), or has used LDSs which map lightning in 3D to infer storm polarity directly from intracloud (IC) lightning leader propagation patterns. Data on IC lightning from long-range LDSs is a resource which, to our knowledge, has not yet been used to study bulk storm charge structures. It stands to reason that if inverted storms favor the production of more +CGs than normal storms, then they would also favor the production of more -ICs. The goal of this study is therefore to interrogate several years of lightning data from the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN) to determine whether or not IC peak current information can be used to study storm charge structure and the geographic distributions of inverted and normal polarity storms.