Mixed Mode of Charge Transfer During an Upward Positive Flash at Säntis Tower

The term “mixed mode of charge transfer to ground for initial continuous current (ICC) pulses” in the context of upward lightning flashes was first proposed by Zhou et al. 2011 [1] to describe fast pulses, distinct from the classical M-component mode of charge transfer, superposed on the slowly varying initial-stage current of upward negative flashes they observed at the Gaisberg Tower in Austria. The pulses in question were associated with leader/return-stroke processes occurring in decayed or newly created branches of the plasma channel connecting to the grounded, current-carrying channel, with junction points below the cloud base (height < 1 km) [1,2].

Herein, we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first observation of a mixed-mode-type pulse during the initial stage of an upward positive flash that was initiated from the Säntis Tower in Switzerland. The Mt. Säntis Lightning Research Facility, which recorded the flash, consists of a current measurement system installed in the mountaintop tower (2.5 km ASL), slow and fast electric field sensors and X-ray detectors 20 m from the tower base, an additional fast E-field sensor 15 km away, as well as full HD cameras and a high-speed camera (HSC) at various distances, among other systems (see Šunjerga et al. 2021 for details [3]).

The observed flash, categorized as a Type 1 from its current waveform (see Romero et al. 2013 for definition [4]), occurred at 16:24:03 UTC on July 24^th, 2021, during the Laser Lightning Rod project [5]. Its “return stroke”-like main pulse was confirmed from HSC footage to have been triggered by a downward-connecting leader with a junction height of approximately 369±5 m AGL, well below the defined cut-off of 1 km. Interestingly, though the 12 kA peak current is reasonable for a mixed-mode pulse, the current and E-field risetimes were both >10 μs, more characteristic of a M-component-type ICC pulse [2].

These observations are important to improving our understanding of the charge transfer mechanisms in upward lightning flashes, which regularly damage wind turbines, telecommunications towers, and airplanes during take-off and landing.

 

References:

[1] Zhou, H., Diendorfer, G., Thottappillil, R., Pichler, H., Mair, M. (2011). Mixed mode of charge transfer to ground for initial continuous current pulses in upward lightning. In 2011 7th Asia-Pacific International Conference on Lightning (pp. 677–681). Chengdu, China: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/APL.2011.6110212

[2] Zhou, H., Rakov, V. A., Diendorfer, G., Thottappillil, R., Pichler, H., Mair, M. (2015). A study of different modes of charge transfer to ground in upward lightning. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 125–126, 38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2015.02.008

[3] Šunjerga, A., Mostajabi, A., Paolone, M., Rachidi, F., Romero, C., Hettiarachchi, P., … Smith, D. (2021). Säntis Lightning Research Facility Instrumentation. International Conference on Lightning Protection, 6.

[4] Romero, C., Rachidi, F., Rubinstein, M., Paolone, M., Rakov, V. A., Pavanello, D. (2013). Positive lightning flashes recorded on the Säntis tower from May 2010 to January 2012: POSITIVE LIGHTNING SÄNTIS TOWER. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118(23), 12,879-12,892. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020242

[5] Houard, A., Walch, P., Produit, T., Moreno, V., Mahieu, B., Šunjerga, A., … Wolf, J.-P. (2023). Laser-guided lightning. Nature Photonics, 17(3), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-01139-z