Intracloud Research Articles

Observation of Electrical Alignment Signatures in an Isolated Thunderstorm by Dual‐Polarized Phased Array Weather Radar and the Relationship With Intracloud Lightning Flash Rate

AbstractThe electrical alignment signatures of ice crystals in the middle and upper parts of a thunderstorm have a physical connection with the strong electric fields within the cloud. By taking advantage of the high spatio‐temporal resolution of an X‐band dual‐polarized multiparameter phased array radar, this paper employs negative KDP signatures to investigate the variation of electric fields in an isolated thunderstorm within its evolution, and the relationship between the negative KDP signatures and intracloud (IC) lightning activity. The results show that the radar‐inferred strong electric fields distributed in a region of about 8.5–10 km during the developing stage, then extended from about 10 km to the cloud top during the mature stage, with an increasing IC lightning flash rate before the end of the mature stage. Subsequently, the electric fields weakened associated with a large amount of IC lightning discharges. The qualitative analysis results indicate that the evolution of the radar‐inferred electric fields associated with the upper charge regions is consistent with the electrification process in the isolated thunderstorm, inferred by the IC lighting activity. In addition, there is a tendency for the increased IC lightning rate as the decrease in average composite KDP in the middle and upper layers of the thunderstorm, with a time lag of about 5.5 min between the minimum average composite KDP and the peak IC lightning rate, while a good correlation between the negative KDP volume and the IC lightning flash rate at a lag of approximately 9 min.

Total lightning signatures in a tornadic thunderstorm over the Pearl River Delta of Southern China

Tornado rises rotating air columns extending from the bottom of cumulonimbus clouds to the ground, often accompanied by strong convection with thunderstorms, hail, and short-term heavy precipitation, which seriously threaten people's lives and property safety. Studying the characteristics of thunderstorm activity during a tornado is crucial for comprehending the atmospheric electrical mechanisms involved in its generation process and developing cooperative methods for tornado warning and forecasting. Based on the VLF/LF total lightning location system and radar echo data, this paper analyzes the spatial-temporal evolution, frequency, polarity, and height of total lightning during a strong tornado (EF3) in the Pearl River Delta region on June 3, 2014. The lightning activity lasted for about 3.5 h, with a total of 41,117 total lightning flashes, of which intra-cloud (IC) flashes accounted for 74.7%, cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes accounted for 21.6%, and narrow bipolar events (NBEs) accounted for 3.7%. Connected-Component Labeling (CCL) algorithm was used to divide the thunderstorm into four stages: initiation, development, maturation, and dissipation, and it was observed that the occurrence of tornadoes was closely related to total lightning activities. The observed characteristics of lightning activity in the tornado are summarized through comparison with other studies.

Upgraded Low-Frequency 3D Lightning Mapping System in North China and Observations on Lightning Initiation Processes

The three-dimensional (3D) low-frequency lightning mapping system (LF-LMS) in north China has been updated. The lightning electric field derivative (dE/dt) sensor and continuous acquisition mode has been newly designed to ensure a capability of entire lightning processes detection, especially weak discharges during lightning the initiation process. The twice cross-correlation delay estimation and the grid iteration nested optimization location algorithm are used to realize the 3D location of the discharge channel, and the location resolution and calculation speed are balanced consequently. The location results of the rocket-triggered lightning demonstrated that the system achieved a high-resolution mapping of lightning discharge channels, which coincided well with the optical images. The horizontal and vertical location error for rocket triggered lightning was less than 40 m in both horizontal and vertical. Intracloud (IC) lightning flashes were observed to be initiated by three different discharge processes, initial breakdown pulse (IBP), narrow bipolar event (NBE), and initial E-change (IEC). The corresponding initial height was 10.5 km, 6.9 km, and 9.2 km, respectively. The upward negative leader was initially located, followed by scatter radiation sources and negative recoil leaders in the lower negative charge region for all cases. The electric field characteristics of the IEC and subsequent IBPs indicated that they are different discharge processes with the same current direction. The IEC process might correspond to the discharge process with continuous current and less noticeable current changes.

Study of dynamics-microphysical-lightning activity characteristics in a tropical hailstorm

Based on three-dimensional lightning locations and S-band polarimetric Doppler radar data, a hailstorm that occurred on Hainan Island on June 4, 2021 was analyzed in detail. The analysis revealed that the flash activity of hailstorms is mainly intracloud (IC) flashes, the cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes frequency were less, positive CG flashes (+CG) were domination in the CG activity before hailfall. The flash frequency appeared “lightning jumps” when hailstorms merging with convective cells, ice hydrometeors also rapidly increased in the clouds of the mixed-phase area in this period, which was beneficial for efficient electrification. The Zdr column and evolution of echo top indicated presence of an intense updraft during the mature stage of the hailstorm. Zdr column depth about 4 km close to 20 °C during the mature stage. Near the time of the hailfall, Zdr column was contraction, due to sinking hail generated downdraft within the cloud. Zdr column after hailfall may be produced by the convergence of downdraft and sea breeze. In combination with the spatiotemporal distribution of the hydrometeors in hailstorms, flash activity was most closely related to graupel and it plays a important role for flashes electrification. The hail plays a minimum role in charge separation. Radiation sources were concentrated between 50 dBZ and 55 dBZ. The spatial distribution of radiation sources indicated possible complex charge structure within hail storm clouds.

A 13-year long strokes statistical analysis over the Central Mediterranean area

This paper presents the first detailed analysis of cloud-to-ground (CG) and intra-cloud (IC) strokes characteristics from the Lightning Detection Network (LINET) over Italy and the Central Mediterranean area, a lightning active area in south Europe. We study the strokes over a 13-year period from 2010 to 2022, aiming to understand how it varies with different temporal scales (hourly, monthly, seasonally, and yearly), surface types (sea and land), and ground levels (0–100 m; 100–200 m; 200–400 m; 400–800 m; 800–1200 m; 1200–2000 m and above 2000 m).We found that the stroke's maximum activity was observed in August; specifically, July has the maximum activity over the land with a maximum diurnal peak in the afternoon, while in September, the convection shifts over the sea with a secondary daily maximum in the morning. The largest current intensities are observed in January, over sea and during nighttime. Moreover we found that stroke current intensities, polarity and IC height emissions are influenced by ground altitude level. Our paper provides new insights into the spatio-temporal patterns and characteristics of lightning over Italy and the Central Mediterranean area, which can be useful for improving weather forecasting, climate modeling, risk assessment, and damage mitigation strategies in this area.

Electrical Alignment Signatures of Ice Particles Before Intracloud Lightning Activity Detected by Dual‐Polarized Phased Array Weather Radar

AbstractThe cloud electrification process has great significance in understanding the microphysical properties, electrical characteristics, and evolution of thunderstorms. This study employs an X‐band dual‐polarized multiparameter phased array weather radar (MP‐PAWR) to observe the electrical alignment signatures of ice particles before the first intracloud (IC) lightning flash, and to explore the evolution of the upper charge region in the early electrification stage of an isolated thunderstorm. Negative KDP signatures associated with vertically oriented ice particles by strong electric fields in the upper parts of the thunderstorm are analyzed by introducing composite KDP, which is defined as a minimum KDP value observed in a vertical column across all elevation scans at each specific horizontal grid point at and above a designated layer. About 7 min before the first IC lightning flash, the mean canting angle of ice particles in the upper parts of the cloud changed from horizontal to vertical by strong electric fields, and the concentration of vertically aligned ice particles on the top of the cloud reached the maximum 30 s before the first IC lightning flash. These signatures exhibit an early electrification process in the upper parts of the thunderstorm. These results indicate that with the high spatial and temporal resolution, MP‐PAWRs have the ability not only to detect the rapid evolution of microphysical structures but also to observe the early electrification of thunderstorms, which will facilitate forecasting IC lightning flash initiation combined with graupel presence signatures in the mixed‐phase region in normal operation.

Electrical Properties of Vertical Dominant Charge Structures Observed in Corsican Thunderstorms With a LMA

AbstractLightning characteristics of Corsican storms with different charge structures are investigated in this study. Observations of an LMA network are used to document the total lightning activity. Complementary lightning observations of the lightning detection network Météorage are also used. A clustering algorithm is used to build a database of electrical cells from June to October 2018. A method is also applied to infer the vertical charge structure, as dominant dipoles, per 10‐min period for each electrical cell. As an example, one cell recorded in July 2018 is discussed. The cell database is then presented as well as the main electrical properties according to the dominant charge structures. For instance, the higher in altitude the dominant dipole, the higher the flash rate. Overall, dominant negative dipole are observed for 25% of the 10‐min periods and can be separated into two categories: (a) low altitude negative dipole class dominated by negative cloud‐to‐ground (CG) flashes with a main positive layer located between 2 and 4 km height and (b) high altitude negative dipole class, dominated by negative intracloud (IC) with a main positive layer at 5 km height. Dominant positive dipole can also be separated into two categories with (a) a dominant positive dipole located between 4.5 and 10 km high, −CG dominance, weak flash rate and (b) higher altitude dominant positive dipole, +IC dominance and a larger +CG fraction. The synergistic use of LMA and Météorage observations independently gives a rational type and polarity classification with regard to the vertical charge structure.

Understanding the Effects of Aerosols on Electrification and Lightning Polarity in an Idealized Supercell Thunderstorm via Model Emulation

AbstractAerosol effects on the lightning intensity and polarity of a continental supercell storm were investigated using a three‐dimensional lightning scheme within the Weather Research and Forecasting model. We find that both intra‐cloud (IC) and cloud‐to‐ground (CG) flashes are enhanced by the increasing number of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), especially the percentage of positive CG (+CG) strokes peaking at 42%. Electrical characteristics of the storm varied in different aerosol scenarios through microphysical processes. Added aerosols increase the number of cloud droplets and ice‐phase hydrometeors. The greater ice‐crystal concentration and larger graupel size ensure sufficient charge separation, leading to higher charge density and more lightning discharges. In addition, an inverted polarity charge structure with a strong positive‐charge region in the mid‐levels was formed mainly due to the positively charged graupel in the presence of higher supercooled cloud water content. Positive lightning channels originating from this positive‐charge region propagated to the ground, producing more +CG strokes. When the aerosol concentration was low, the charge density in the upper positive‐charge region was much lower due to smaller ice‐particle content. Consequently, there were barely any +CG strokes. Most of the negative CG flashes deposited positive charge in the lower negative‐charge region.

Five-Year Analysis of Lightning Activities in Different Climatic Regions of Sichuan Province, China

Sichuan is a high-incidence area of thunderstorm activity in China. Based on the data of the total lightning location system from 2018 to 2022, the total lightning, cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning, and intracloud (IC) lightning activity regularity for the Sichuan province (SC) and its three climate subregions: Sichuan Basin (SB), Panxi district (PD), and West Sichuan Plateau (WSP) are analyzed, and the influences of different climate and topography conditions on lightning activities are also discussed. The results show that (1) for the whole province, the annual mean value of total lightning is about 850 thousand. The SB has the most lightning occurrences, and the WSP has the largest IC and +CG proportion. The southwest of PD, the north-center of PD, and the southeast of SB are the three high-value centers of lightning density. (2) For SB, the better thermodynamic and moisture conditions account for the most lightning occurrences. For PD, the lightning distribution is attributed to the joint effect of specific meteorological conditions and mountainous topography. For WSP, the convections are weak and shallow, which lead to high IC and +CG proportion. (3) The IC lightning mainly occurs below 12 km, and the IC height is much lower on WSP. The spatial and seasonal variation of IC height corresponds well to the cloud base height (CBH) and cloud top height (CTH). (4) The seasonal lightning frequency distribution in the three regions is similar, but the diurnal variation is quite different. The lightning activity mainly occurs between 1400 and 2200 LT on WSP but shows obvious nocturnal in SB. (5) Most CG intensity concentrates in the range below 50 kA, and IC concentrates in the range below 75 kA.

Machine-learning-based investigation of the variables affecting summertime lightning occurrence over the Southern Great Plains

Abstract. Lightning is affected by many factors, many of which are not routinely measured, well understood, or accounted for in physical models. Several commonly used machine learning (ML) models have been applied to analyze the relationship between Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) data and lightning data from the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN) in order to identify important variables affecting lightning occurrence in the vicinity of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) ARM site during the summer months (June, July, August and September) of 2012 to 2020. Testing various ML models, we found that the random forest model is the best predictor among common classifiers. When convective clouds were detected, it predicts lightning occurrence with an accuracy of 76.9 % and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.850. Using this model, we further ranked the variables in terms of their effectiveness in nowcasting lightning and identified geometric cloud thickness, rain rate and convective available potential energy (CAPE) as the most effective predictors. The contrast in meteorological variables between no-lightning and frequent-lightning periods was examined for hours with CAPE values conducive to thunderstorm formation. Besides the variables considered for the ML models, surface variables and mid-altitude variables (e.g., equivalent potential temperature and minimum equivalent potential temperature, respectively) have statistically significant contrasts between no-lightning and frequent-lightning hours. For example, the minimum equivalent potential temperature from 700 to 500 hPa is significantly lower during frequent-lightning hours compared with no-lightning hours. Finally, a notable positive relationship between the intracloud (IC) flash fraction and the square root of CAPE (CAPE) was found, suggesting that stronger updrafts increase the height of the electrification zone, resulting in fewer flashes reaching the surface and consequently a greater IC flash fraction.

Feasibility of forecasting convective rain by diagnosing intracloud lightning jumps

This study conducted a comparison of the data quality of Earth Networks (EN) and Taiwan Power Company’s Total Lightning Detection System (TLDS) and evaluated the feasibility of using intracloud (IC) lightning to issue convective rain warnings. The results indicate uncertainties in the TLDS positioning of IC lightning. When forecasting convective rain on the basis of IC lightning jumps using EN data, the mean prefigurance and postagreement scores were 0.8 and 0.67, respectively, which were more favourable than the respective TLDS scores of 0.65 and 0.47. In regions with high TLDS positioning uncertainties, the use of EN data increased the number of prefigurance and postagreement hits in each analysis zone and raised the prefigurance and postagreement scores to 0.3 and 0.5, respectively. This indicates that analyses using EN data can reduce the risk of missed convective rain warnings when diagnosing IC jumps and can reduce the false alarm rate. In this study, IC jumps preceded convective rains by a maximum of 27.5–39.3 min on average in all analysis zones across Taiwan. The results suggest that diagnosing IC jumps to forecast convective rain is feasible, but until the uncertainties in the positioning of IC lightning using TLDSs have been remedied, EN data are the more suitable diagnostic choice.

An Investigation on Spatiotemporal Sizes of Specific Types of Lightning Flashes

AbstractThe duration and horizontal extension distance (HED) of intracloud (IC), negative cloud‐to‐ground (NCG), positive cloud‐to‐ground (PCG), and bipolar cloud‐to‐ground (BCG) lightning are analyzed using data from the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array and the National Lightning Detection Network. All of these conform to lognormal distributions. BCG lightning has the greatest average spatiotemporal size, owing to its longest‐duration and largest‐spatial‐extension discharge process after the first return stroke (RS). Compared with NCG lightning, PCG lightning tends to include longer‐duration and greater‐spatial‐extension discharge processes before the first RS, making the latter have a larger average spatiotemporal size. IC lightning exhibits the smallest average spatiotemporal size, with a higher concentration of samples in smaller size intervals. Overall, as lightning initiation heights increase, IC and NCG lightning duration tends to increase, while NCG lightning variation is mainly due to discharge processes before the first RS. HED of both types initially increases and then decreases, peaking at ∼7 km. The horizontal extension speed (HES) of IC lightning tends to decrease with increasing initiation height, while for NCG lightning, the HES associated with discharge processes before the first RS shows a clearer decreasing trend at higher levels. The NCG lightning initiated below ∼6 km tends to exhibit similar HED before the first RS and increased HED after the first RS. However, for NCG lightning initiated above ∼6 km, the HED before the first RS is notably greater than the increased HED after the first RS.

Searching for intra-cloud positive leaders in VHF

We have used the LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) to search for the growing tip of an intra-cloud (IC) positive leader. Even with our most sensitive beamforming method, where we coherently add the signals of about 170 antenna pairs, we were not able to detect any emission from the tip. Instead, we put constraints on the emissivity of very-high frequency (VHF) radiation from the tip at 0.5 pJ/MHz at 60 MHz, integrated over 100 ns. The limit is independent on whether this emission is in the form of short pulses or continuously radiating. The non-observation of VHF radiation from intra-cloud positive leaders implies that they proceed in an extremely gradual process, which is in sharp contrast with the observations of other parts of a lightning discharge.

Assimilation of Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Lightning Imager (LI) pseudo-observations in AROME-France – proof of concept

Abstract. This study develops a lightning data assimilation (LDA) scheme for the regional, convection-permitting numerical weather prediction (NWP) model AROME-France. The LDA scheme intends to assimilate total lightning, i.e., cloud-to-ground (CG) and inter- and intra-cloud (IC), of the future Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Lightning Imager (LI; MTG-LI). MTG-LI proxy data are created, and flash extent density (FED) fields are derived. An FED forward observation operator (FFO) is trained based on modeled, column-integrated graupel mass from 24 storm days in 2018. The FFO is successfully verified for 2 independent storm days. With the FFO, the LDA adapts a 1-dimensional Bayesian (1DBay) retrieval followed by a 3-dimensional variational (3DVar) assimilation approach that is currently run operationally in AROME-France for radar reflectivity data. The 1DBay retrieval derives relative humidity profiles from the background by comparing the FED observations to the FED inferred from the background. Retrieved relative humidity profiles are assimilated as sounding data. The evaluation of the LDA comprises different LDA experiments and four case studies. It is found that all LDA experiments can increase the background integrated water vapor (IWV) in regions where the observed FED exceeds the FED inferred from AROME-France outputs. In addition, IWV can be reduced where spurious FED is modeled. A qualitative analysis of 6 h accumulated rainfall fields reveals that the LDA is capable of locating and initiating some local precipitation fields better than a radar data assimilation (RDA) experiment. However, the LDA also leads to rainfall accumulations that are too high at some locations. Fractions skill scores (FSSs) of 6 h accumulated rainfall are overall similar for the developed LDA and RDA experiments. An approach aiming at mitigating effects due to differences in the optical extents of lightning flashes and the area of the corresponding cloud was developed and included in the LDA; however, it does not always improve the FSS.

High‐Accuracy Classification of Radiation Waveforms of Lightning Return Strokes

AbstractA machine‐learning classifier for radiation waveforms of negative return strokes (RSs) is built and tested based on the Random Forest classifier using a large data set consisting of 14,898 negative RSs and 159,277 intracloud (IC) pulses with 3‐D location information. Eleven simple parameters including three parameters related with pulse characteristics and eight parameters related with the relative strength of pulses are defined to build the classifier. Two parameters for the evaluation of the classifier performance are also defined, including the classification accuracy, which is the percentage of true RSs in all classified RSs, and the identification efficiency, which is the percentage of correctly classified RSs in all true RSs. The tradeoff between the accuracy and the efficiency is examined and simple methods to tune the tradeoff are developed. The classifier achieved the best overall performance with an accuracy of 98.84% and an efficiency of 98.81%. With the same technique, the classifier for positive RSs is also built and tested using a data set consisting of 8,700 positive RSs. The classifier has an accuracy of 99.04% and an efficiency of 98.37%. By examining misclassified waveforms, we show evidence that some RSs and IC discharges produce special radiation waveforms that are almost impossible to correctly classify without 3‐D location information, resulting in a fundamental difficulty to achieve very high accuracy and efficiency in the classification of lightning radiation waveforms.

Seasonal and Regional Distribution of Lightning Fraction Over Indian Subcontinent

AbstractFour years of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology lightning location network lightning observation data are used to determine the seasonal and spatial (over different geographical locations) distribution of the ratio of intra‐cloud (IC) lightning to cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning in thunderstorms over the Indian subcontinent. The ratio is high (6–10) in the northwestern parts and low (0.5–3.5) in the northeastern parts. No prominent latitudinal variation of the IC to CG ratio exists, but a climatological seasonal variability exists over all regions. In the pre‐monsoon season (March–May), the mean ratio is observed to be 3.81 with a standard deviation of 0.79, and during the monsoon season (June–September), a value of 3.04 with a standard deviation of 0.50. Although convective available potential energy is the regulating factor, little dependency has been found between the ratio of IC to CG lightning (IC:CG ratio) and the total flash rate (f), as well as with cold cloud depths. The ratio is observed to be proportional to the total flash rate as f0.61. The cold cloud depth is most prominently linked with the regional and seasonal IC:CG ratio. The implication of these observed results has the importance of separating CG lightning flash from total and can be used in numerical models to give a proper prediction of CG lightning in hazard mitigation.

A Strong Pulsing Nature of Negative Intracloud Dart Leaders Accompanied by Regular Trains of Microsecond‐Scale Pulses

AbstractWe report the first observations of negative intracloud (IC) dart‐stepped leaders accompanied by regular trains of microsecond‐scale pulses, simultaneously detected by shielded broadband magnetic loop antennas and the radio telescope Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). Four investigated pulse trains occurred during complicated IC flashes on 18 June 2021, when heavy thunderstorms hit the Netherlands. The pulses within the trains are unipolar, a few microseconds wide, and with an average inter‐pulse interval of 5–7 μs. The broadband pulses perfectly match energetic, regularly distributed, and relatively isolated bursts of very high frequency sources localized by LOFAR. All trains were generated by negative dart‐stepped leaders propagating at a lower speed than usual dart leaders. They followed channels of previous leaders occurring within the same flash several tens of milliseconds before the reported observations. The physical mechanism remains unclear as to why we observe dart‐stepped leaders, which show mostly regular stepping, emitting energetic microsecond‐scale pulses.

Three-Dimensional Mapping on Lightning Discharge Processes Using Two VHF Broadband Interferometers

Lightning Very-high-frequency (VHF) broadband interferometer has become an effective approach to map lightning channels in two dimensions with high time resolution. This paper reports an approach to mapping lightning channels in three dimensions (3D) using two simultaneous interferometers separated by about 10 km. A 3D mapping algorithm was developed based on the triangular intersection method considering the location accuracy of both interferometers and the arrival time of lightning VHF radiation. Simulation results reveal that the horizontal and vertical location errors within 10 km of the center of the two stations are less than 500 m and 700 m, respectively. The 3D development of an intra-cloud (IC) lightning flash and a negative cloud-to-ground (-CG) lightning flash with two different ground terminations in the same thunderstorm are reconstructed, and the extension direction and speed of lightning channels are estimated consequently. Both IC and CG flash discharges showed a two-layer structure in the cloud with discharges occurring in the upper positive charge region and the lower negative charge region, and two horizontally separated positive charge regions were involved in the two flashes. The average distance of the CG ground terminations between the interferometer results and the CG location system was about 448 m. Although disadvantages may still exist in 3D real-time location compared with the lightning mapping array system working with the principle of the time of arrival, interferometry with two or more stations has the advantage of lower station number and is feasible in regions with poor installation conditions, such as heavy-radio-frequency-noise regions or regions that are difficult for the long-baseline location system.

Analyzing lightning characteristics in central and southern South America

Lightning data has become an integral part of weather observation and has been shown to be an effective tool for alerting and nowcasting. The Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN) is a global lightning detection network established in 2009. ENTLN consists of roughly 1800 broadband electric field sensors globally that detect intra-cloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning, with over 140 sensors in South America. In this study, we analyze the geographical variation of lightning characteristics such as density, peak current, and polarity, with the goal of better understanding the meteorological processes that produce these thunderstorms. Results indicate significant variation in average peak current per flash, with a maximum occurring throughout Northern Argentina, and a localized strong minimum North of São Paulo, Brazil. This minimum is coincident with a region dominated by negative IC flashes. In Central and Northern Argentina, 40%–50% of CG flashes were observed to be positive. Conventional thunderstorms typically have around 10% positive CG flashes. The large-scale patterns observed in this study support the findings of previous case studies regarding inverted polarity storms, mesoscale convective systems, and transient luminous event production, most of which had more limited scopes.

A Self‐Sustained Charge Neutrality Intracloud Lightning Parameterization Containing Channel Decay and Reactivation

AbstractA self‐sustained charge neutrality parameterization scheme of intracloud (IC) lightning is presented in this paper. The scheme contains the following features: simultaneous development of multiple branches, polarity asymmetry of positive and negative leaders, nonlinear electrical parameters, complete charge neutrality, and channel decay and reactivation. Nonlinear electrical parameters and charge neutrality are the key factors that determinate channel decay and reactivation. To demonstrate the simulation capacity of this scheme, two simulated intracloud flashes by this scheme under the tripole charge structure are chosen for analysis. These two IC flashes show clearly the above features, where reactivation processes that initiated from different branches and the real‐time changes in nonlinear electrical parameters are mainly analyzed. The simulation results are in line with the current knowledge on lightning, which also suggests that the new scheme may become a useful tool to deeply explore the discharge phenomena involving channel decay and reactivation.