Electromagnetic and Optical Investigations of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning and Its Connections to In-Cloud Discharge Processes

ATM-0531673威廉·H·比斯利对云对地闪电及其与云内放电过程的联系进行了电磁和光学研究。比斯利正在寻求利用仪器开发的最新进展来获得云对地闪电的时间相关高速光学成像、快速和慢速宽带电磁场观测以及云内闪电放电通道几何结构的观测。结合这些仪器的测量结果，将为几个与云层闪电有关的悬而未决的问题提供新的线索。特别是，他将调查云内闪电和云对地闪电特征之间的关系，描述似乎与瞬变发光事件的发生有因果关系的闪电，并试图更好地理解为什么一些闪电能被卫星光学探测到，而另一些则不能。该项目的更广泛影响是有可能增加研究闪电引发和云对地闪电过程的国家基础设施，这是一个具有直接社会意义的领域，因为闪电对工业和社会的许多不同因素有重大影响。

AbstractATM-0531673William H. BeasleyElectromagnetic and optical investigations of cloud-to-ground lightning and its connections to in-cloud discharge processes.Dr. Beasley is seeking to take advantage of recent advances in instrumentation development to obtain time-correlated high-speed optical imaging of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes, fast and slow broadband electromagnetic field observations, and observations of in-cloud lightning discharge channel geometry. Combining measurements from these instruments will shed new light on several unresolved questions related to cloud lightning. In particular, he will investigate relationships between in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning characteristics, characterize lightning flashes that appear to bear a causal relation to the occurrence of Transient Luminous Events, and seek to understand better why some lightning flashes are detected optically by satellites while other are not. The broader impact of this project is the potential to increase the nations infrastructure with which to study lightning initiation and cloud-to-ground lightning processes, an area of direct societal interest as lightning has a significant impact on many different elements of industry and society.