Lightning Initiation Studies

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Despite decades of lightning research, there is still much to be learned about the initial sparks of a lightning flash and how lightning creates a path through the sky. This award will provide researchers the opportunity to set up an array of electrical sensors in northern Mississippi to collect important data that can be used to investigate and gain a better understanding of the mechanisms that start a lightning flash. Increased understanding of lightning is important due to significant societal impacts that lightning has on people and property each year. The award will also contribute to the education and training of the next generation of scientists through the support of a postdoctoral researcher and a graduate student.This award will fund the deployment of a suite of electrical sensors at nine different sites across northern Mississippi. Each site will contain an E-charge sensor, a VHF sensor, and a dE/dt sensor. In addition, the PIs will deploy two high speed video cameras, one with the ability to operate at 50,000 frames per second. The instrumentation setup is designed to allow the researchers to address the following questions: 1) What events begin and amplify an initial E-charge (IEC) and how do these events cause the IEC? 2) When and how does the transition from non-conducting air to a hot conducting channel occur? 3) What do initial breakdown pulses of intracloud flashes look like optically and are they similar to initial breakdown pulses of cloud-to-ground flashes? 4) Why do some flashes have multiple sets of IB pulses? 5) Why do some Narrow Bipolar Pulses initiate intracloud flashes while others do not?