Lightning is a wonder-phenomenon. Despite the general knowledge regarding its formation, Chilingarian et al. (2017) assert that the correlation between lightning and elementary particle fluxes in thunderclouds is still a mystery in atmospheric science as it relates to its initiation. Tilles et al. (2019) add to this literature by ascertaining that thunderstorms are natural laboratories for studying electrical discharges in the air, whereby; the vast spatial, temporal, and energy scales present can spawn unusual phenomena that reveal deficiencies in our understanding of dielectric breakdown. Chilingarian et al. (2017), therefore, postulate that the Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanches (RREA) in the thunderclouds aid in the initiation of the negative cloud to ground lightning. This is because RREA proffers adequate ionization sufficient enough to unleash the lightning flash.
Furthermore, Williams & Montanya (2019) further ascertain that recent research in atmospheric science and lightning physics has discovered structural features on positively charged lightning channels absent in negatively charged ones. The researchers describe the structures as needle-like –which they hope will explain why lightning flickers in the general bid to gain a better understanding of lightning as an atmospheric concept. In their explanation of an efficient charge produced by lightning, the researchers postulate that lightning forms a bidirectional channel of ionized air that propagates away from the initiation point with positively and negatively charged ends referred to as positive and negative leaders. Warner et al. (2016) corroborate with these assertions by inferring from their observational research on the bidirectional nature of lightning leader initiation. They deduce that positive leaders in lightning can form branches by connecting with newly formed bipolar leaders –which by Hare et al. (2019) discussion result in the needle-like structures.
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Hare et al. (2019) corroborate with the summarized literature and research on two fronts; that lightning is a poorly understood concept, and that lightning forms a network of plasma channels directed away from the initiation point with both positively and negatively charged ends referred to as negative and positive leaders. However, the researchers distinguish between the two types of leader charges; negative leaders are propagated in discrete steps while positive leaders spread continuously thereby emitting minimal high-frequency radiation. Thus the plasma charges observed by other researchers such as Warner et al. (2016) are what are referred to as needle-like structures which are the dominant source of radio emission from the positive leaders. Therefore, the fact that the structures appear to drain charge from the leader presents a high probability that they are the reason why positive leaders disconnect from negative ones and also why cloud-to-ground lightning strikes multiple times.
References
Chilingarian, A., Chilingaryan, S., Karapetyan, T., Kozliner, L., Khanikyants, Y., Hovsepyan, G., ... & Soghomonyan, S. (2017). On the initiation of lightning in thunderclouds. Scientific reports , 7 (1), 1371. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01288-0
Hare, B. M., Scholten, O., Dwyer, J., Trinh, T. N.G., Buitink, S., ter Veen, S., … & Zucca, P. (2019). Needle-like structures discovered on positively charged lightning branches. Nature, 568 (7752), 360-363. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1086-6
Tilles, J. N., Liu, N., Stanley, M. A., Krehbiel, P. R., Rison, W., Stock, M. G., ... & Wilson, J. (2019). Fast negative breakdown in thunderstorms. Nature Communications , 10 (1), 1648. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09621-z
Warner, T. A., Saba, M. M., Schumann, C., Helsdon, J. H., & Orville, R. E. (2016). Observations of bidirectional lightning leader initiation and development near positive leader channels. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres , 121 (15), 9251-9260. DOI: 10.1002/2016JD025365
Williams, E. & Montanya, J. (2019). A closer look at lightning reveals needle-like structures. Nature, 568 (1), 319-320. DOI: 10.1038/d41586-019-01178-7
