The effect of space charge produced by corona at ground level on lightning attachment to high objects

Abstract

Abstract The influence of the corona space charge layer created at ground level on lightning attachment to high (20–100 m) slender objects is numerically studied. The shielding effect of corona space charge produced near the object tip on the electric field at ground level is considered. The behavior of a non-stationary streamer-free corona developed from ground irregularities in a time-varying thundercloud electric field is discussed. The initiation of an upward leader from the tip of a high grounded object is simulated in the electric field created by a storm-cloud, approaching downward leader and space charge produced by corona at ground level and near the object tip. The corona space charge produced on the ground surface is shown to affect only slightly the inception of an upward connecting leader from the object when the local electric field near the object tip rises rapidly due to an approaching downward leader. The effect of neutral aerosol particles on lightning attachment to high grounded slender objects is also small.