Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms

How lightning is initiated inside storms has been a long-standing and fundamental question. Here, the authors report observations of a previously unrecognized type of discharge, called fast positive breakdown, that is found to initiate many and potentially all lightning discharges in storms.

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	William Rison, Paul R. Krehbiel, Michael G. Stock, Harald E. Edens, Xuan-Min Shao, Ronald J. Thomas, Mark A. Stanley, Yang Zhang
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2016-02-01
Series:	Nature Communications
Online Access:	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10721

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spelling	doaj-182e67b631d64cb395e2868fce15263b2021-05-11T11:13:30ZengNature Publishing GroupNature Communications2041-17232016-02-017111210.1038/ncomms10721Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstormsWilliam Rison0Paul R. Krehbiel1Michael G. Stock2Harald E. Edens3Xuan-Min Shao4Ronald J. Thomas5Mark A. Stanley6Yang Zhang7Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologyLangmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologyLangmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologyLangmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologySpace and Remote Sensing Group, Los Alamos National LaboratoryLangmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologyLangmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologyLaboratory of Lightning Physics and Protection Engineering, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesHow lightning is initiated inside storms has been a long-standing and fundamental question. Here, the authors report observations of a previously unrecognized type of discharge, called fast positive breakdown, that is found to initiate many and potentially all lightning discharges in storms.https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10721
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	William Rison Paul R. Krehbiel Michael G. Stock Harald E. Edens Xuan-Min Shao Ronald J. Thomas Mark A. Stanley Yang Zhang
spellingShingle	William Rison Paul R. Krehbiel Michael G. Stock Harald E. Edens Xuan-Min Shao Ronald J. Thomas Mark A. Stanley Yang Zhang Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms Nature Communications
author_facet	William Rison Paul R. Krehbiel Michael G. Stock Harald E. Edens Xuan-Min Shao Ronald J. Thomas Mark A. Stanley Yang Zhang
author_sort	William Rison
title	Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms
title_short	Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms
title_full	Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms
title_fullStr	Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms
title_full_unstemmed	Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms
title_sort	observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
series	Nature Communications
issn	2041-1723
publishDate	2016-02-01
description	How lightning is initiated inside storms has been a long-standing and fundamental question. Here, the authors report observations of a previously unrecognized type of discharge, called fast positive breakdown, that is found to initiate many and potentially all lightning discharges in storms.
url	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10721
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Observations of narrow bipolar events reveal how lightning is initiated in thunderstorms

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