PROBABLE AIRCRAFT “TRIGGERING” OF LIGHTNING IN CERTAIN THUNDERSTORMS

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Abstract
Three aircraft have been used to study the lightning and related cloud physics properties of Florida thunderstorms. The average probability of a lightning strike to the storm penetration aircraft was 0.021, based on the ratio of aircraft strikes to total number of strikes during penetration periods. On 2 exceptional days, the probability increased to 1.00 and 0.50. These storms were found to be in an early dissipating stage. The results appear to confirm the suggestion of L. P. Harrison that an aircraft may act to initiate streamers and lightning discharges by suddenly augmenting the field in a localized region in the storm. This effect is most likely to occur shortly after the storm activity has diminished to the point where natural streamer formation is difficult.

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