Close electric field changes associated with upward-initiated lightning at the Gaisberg Tower

Author

Zhou, Helin ; Diendorfer, Gerhard ; Thottappillil, Rajeev ; Pichler, Hannes ; Mair, Martin

Author_Institution

Div. of Electromagn. Eng., R. Inst. of Technol. (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden

fYear

2011

fDate

3-7 Oct. 2011

Firstpage

87

Lastpage

90

Abstract

We examine in detail the simultaneous lightning current waveforms, close electric field changes, and lighting location system data for upward lightning discharges initiated from the Gaisberg Tower (GBT) from 2005 to 2009. Out of 205 upward flashes, we find that most of upward flashes (179/205 or 87%) are initiated at the tower top without any nearby preceding discharge activity, 26 flashes (13%) are initiated by nearby triggering lightning discharges, including 10 positive cloud-to-ground lightning, 1 negative cloud-to-ground lightning, and 15 cloud discharges. The possible reasons for self-triggered upward flashes dominating at the GBT would be the field enhancement due to the Gaisberg Mountain above 800 m of the surrounding terrain of the city of Salzburg and low cloud base during cold season.

Keywords

electric fields; flashover; lightning; poles and towers; Gaisberg Mountain; Gaisberg tower; close electric field changes; cloud discharges; lighting location system data; lightning current waveform; lightning discharges; negative cloud-to-ground lightning; self triggered upward flash; upward initiated lightning; Current measurement; Discharges; Electric fields; Fault location; Lightning; Poles and towers; cloud base height; field enhacement; other-triggered; self-triggered; upward lightning initiation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lightning Protection (XI SIPDA), 2011 International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Fortaleza

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1898-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SIPDA.2011.6088458

Filename

6088458