Observations of narrow bipolar events in East China

Abstract

Narrow bipolar events (NBEs) are a distinct class of intra-cloud lightning discharge. In this paper we present observations of 10 negative and 67 positive such events in East China. Positive NBEs occurred at 7–12 km altitude above mean sea level (MSL) with a mean altitude of 9.5 km, and negative NBEs occurred at 14–16 km altitude. Electrical/channel characteristics of these events were derived from NBE pulse waveforms based on the transmission-line model. On average, the peak current moment and the charge moment change of a NBE event is 15 kA km, and 0.12 C km, respectively. The mean time for the propagation of current front along the channel is 2.2 μs. The upper limit on channel length for NBEs in this study is 510–1060 m, the lower limit on discharge current amplitude is 12.5–43.2 kA, and the minimum charge transfer is 0.1–0.3 C.