Abstract
An instrumented free balloon measured electric fields and field changes as it rose through a thundercloud above Langmuir Laboratory, New Mexico. The variation of the electric field with altitude implied that the cloud contained negative space charge of density −0.6 to −4 nC m−3 between 5.5 and 8.0 km MSL. The environmental temperature at these levels ranged from −5° to −20°C. Our measurements imply that the areal extent of this negative charge center was significantly greater than that of the cloud's intense precipitation shafts. At altitudes greater than 8 km, the instrument ascended past net positive charge. We also inferred from our measurements positive space charge adjacent to the earth's surface (concentration 0.6 nC m−3) and in the lowest portion of the cloud (1.0 nC m−3). Electric field changes from intracloud lightning were interpreted by using a simple model for the developing streamer of the initial phase. Thunder source reconstructions provided estimates for the orientation of lightning channels. Seven ‘streamers’ so analyzed propagated on the average, at 5×104 m s−1 and carried a current of 390 A. The mean charge dissipated during a flash was 30 C.
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