Electric-field changes of lightning observed in thunderstorms

Abstract

During the Summer and Fall of 1998 we launched five balloon-borne instruments into thunderstorms to observe changes in the vertical component of electric field caused by lightning. Four of these were for measurement of field change only. The fifth was part of a larger package that included a gamma radiation detector and a GPS receiver on board. We have processed electric-field-change data from two of these flights. We discuss examples of field changes observed at altitude and compare them with data from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) for cloud-to-ground lightning flashes that were coincident in time. Limits on time resolution and timing accuracy prevent unambiguous identification of the lightning processes that caused the field changes. It appears that they may have been caused by charge movements relatively near the instruments as compared with the ground-strike location of coincident flashes.