Characteristics of compact intracloud discharges observed in a severe thunderstorm in northern part of China

Abstract

A total of 236 Compact intracloud discharges (CIDs) are documented in this paper. Of between, 32 occurred in isolation and 204 occurred in association with either IC or CG lightning discharges. Among the latter, 130 appeared to initiate lightning discharges, while 72 embedded in lightning discharges and the remaining 2 terminated the lightning discharges. No apparent difference among all types CIDs has been found on rise time, etc. The CIDs occurred at a height ranging from 7km to 16km with a peak power ranging from 12kW up to 781kW in the 267–273MHz passband.