Needle-like structures discovered on positively charged lightning branches

Hare, B. M.; Scholten, O.; Dwyer, J.; Trinh, T. N. G.; Buitink, S.; Veen, S.; Bonardi, A.; Corstanje, A.; Falcke, H.; Hörandel, J. R.; Huege, T.; Mitra, P.; Mulrey, K.; Nelles, A.; Rachen, J. P.; Rossetto, L.; Schellart, P.; Winchen, T.; Anderson, J.; Avruch, I. M.; Bentum, M. J.; Blaauw, R.; Broderick, J. W.; Brouw, W. N.; Brüggen, M.; Butcher, H. R.; Ciardi, B.; Fallows, R. A.; Geus, E.; Duscha, S.; Eislöffel, J.; Garrett, M. A.; Grießmeier, J. M.; Gunst, A. W.; Haarlem, M. P.; Hessels, J. W. T.; Hoeft, M.; Horst, A. J.; Iacobelli, M.; Koopmans, L. V. E.; Krankowski, A.; Maat, P.; Norden, M. J.; Paas, H.; Pandey-Pommier, M.; Pandey, V. N.; Pekal, R.; Pizzo, R.; Reich, W.; Rothkaehl, H.; Röttgering, H. J. A.; Rowlinson, A.; Schwarz, D. J.; Shulevski, A.; Sluman, J.; Smirnov, O.; Soida, M.; Tagger, M.; Toribio, M. C.; Ardenne, A.; Wijers, R. A. M. J.; van Weeren, R. J.; Wucknitz, O.; Zarka, P.; Zucca, P.

Needle-like structures discovered on positively charged lightning branches

B. M. Hare (), O. Scholten (), J. Dwyer, T. N. G. Trinh, S. Buitink, S. Veen, A. Bonardi, A. Corstanje, H. Falcke, J. R. Hörandel, T. Huege, P. Mitra, K. Mulrey, A. Nelles, J. P. Rachen, L. Rossetto, P. Schellart, T. Winchen, J. Anderson, I. M. Avruch, M. J. Bentum, R. Blaauw, J. W. Broderick, W. N. Brouw, M. Brüggen, H. R. Butcher, B. Ciardi, R. A. Fallows, E. Geus, S. Duscha, J. Eislöffel, M. A. Garrett, J. M. Grießmeier, A. W. Gunst, M. P. Haarlem, J. W. T. Hessels, M. Hoeft, A. J. Horst, M. Iacobelli, L. V. E. Koopmans, A. Krankowski, P. Maat, M. J. Norden, H. Paas, M. Pandey-Pommier, V. N. Pandey, R. Pekal, R. Pizzo, W. Reich, H. Rothkaehl, H. J. A. Röttgering, A. Rowlinson, D. J. Schwarz, A. Shulevski, J. Sluman, O. Smirnov, M. Soida, M. Tagger, M. C. Toribio, A. Ardenne, R. A. M. J. Wijers, R. J. van Weeren, O. Wucknitz, P. Zarka and P. Zucca
Additional contact information
B. M. Hare: University of Groningen
O. Scholten: University of Groningen
J. Dwyer: University of New Hampshire
T. N. G. Trinh: University of Groningen
S. Buitink: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
S. Veen: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
A. Bonardi: Radboud University Nijmegen
A. Corstanje: Radboud University Nijmegen
H. Falcke: Vrije Universiteit Brussels
J. R. Hörandel: Radboud University Nijmegen
T. Huege: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
P. Mitra: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
K. Mulrey: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
A. Nelles: Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
J. P. Rachen: Radboud University Nijmegen
L. Rossetto: Radboud University Nijmegen
P. Schellart: Radboud University Nijmegen
T. Winchen: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
J. Anderson: Technical University of Berlin
I. M. Avruch: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
M. J. Bentum: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
R. Blaauw: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
J. W. Broderick: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
W. N. Brouw: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
M. Brüggen: University of Hamburg
H. R. Butcher: Australian National University
B. Ciardi: Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
R. A. Fallows: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
E. Geus: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
S. Duscha: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
J. Eislöffel: Thüringer Landessternwarte
M. A. Garrett: The University of Manchester
J. M. Grießmeier: LPC2E—Université d’Orleans/CNRS
A. W. Gunst: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
M. P. Haarlem: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
J. W. T. Hessels: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
M. Hoeft: Thüringer Landessternwarte
A. J. Horst: The George Washington University
M. Iacobelli: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
L. V. E. Koopmans: University of Groningen
A. Krankowski: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Space Radio-Diagnostics Research Centre
P. Maat: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
M. J. Norden: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
H. Paas: Center for Information Technology (CIT), University of Groningen
M. Pandey-Pommier: Université d’Orleans, OSUC
V. N. Pandey: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
R. Pekal: Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PCSS)
R. Pizzo: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
W. Reich: Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
H. Rothkaehl: Space Research Center PAS
H. J. A. Röttgering: Leiden Observatory, Leiden University
A. Rowlinson: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
D. J. Schwarz: Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld
A. Shulevski: University of Amsterdam
J. Sluman: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
O. Smirnov: Rhodes University
M. Soida: Jagiellonian University, Astronomical Observatory
M. Tagger: LPC2E—Université d’Orleans/CNRS
M. C. Toribio: Leiden Observatory, Leiden University
A. Ardenne: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
R. A. M. J. Wijers: University of Amsterdam
R. J. van Weeren: Leiden Observatory, Leiden University
O. Wucknitz: Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
P. Zarka: LESIA & USN, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, PSL/SU/UPMC/UPD/SPC
P. Zucca: ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy

Nature, 2019, vol. 568, issue 7752, 360-363

Abstract: 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 band2–8 that can be remotely sensed and imaged with high spatial and temporal resolution9–11. Positive leaders propagate more continuously and thus emit very little high-frequency radiation12. Radio emission from positive leaders has nevertheless been mapped13–15, and exhibits a pattern that is different from that of negative leaders11–13,16,17. Furthermore, it has been inferred that positive leaders can become transiently disconnected from negative leaders9,12,16,18–20, which may lead to current pulses that both reconnect positive leaders to negative leaders11,16,17,20–22 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.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1086-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:568:y:2019:i:7752:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1086-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1086-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().