The fine structure of lightning return stroke wave forms

Abstract

The paper describes and analyzes the structure of the radiation fields produced just prior to and during the development of the first and subsequent return strokes in lightning discharges to ground. Stroke data are summarized, and the waveforms of the fields are found to contain several features which are quite alike for different strokes in the same discharge and also for different discharges. The possibility of large currents in the upward connecting discharges, the existence of a large submicrosecond component in all return strokes, and the cause of the small second peak and of the large subsidiary peaks in first strokes are discussed. The similarity of subsequent stroke fields within a flash suggests that the currents and velocities of different subsequent strokes in the same discharge are often very nearly the same.