Abstract
This chapter is devoted to the analysis of electron-ionization and -elimination processes at early stages of electric-discharge development in air at altitudes of mainly 0–90 km. In this chapter, ionization processes in an external electric field, as well as background ionization by fast particles and electron attachment and detachment with participation of atomic and molecular oxygen, are considered. Temperature and concentration dependences of rate constants are described. Analysis of ionization models allowing simplified approaches to detailed computation models is undertaken. It is shown that the electric breakdown process in air, under the influence of an external electric field, comprises several stages that are different with respect to different altitudes over the Earth. Numerical modeling on the basis of a detailed plasma chemical model, taking into account the heating of gas by the discharge, has shown that the relaxation processes leading to gas heating also lead to the appearance of a nonlinear stage of electric breakdown. The considered phenomena can be convenient in the consideration of a high-altitude origination of natural discharges in fields of thunderstorm clouds.
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