Correlated optical and electric field signals produced by lightning return strokes

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Abstract
Time‐correlated waveforms of the light radiated from small segments of lightning return stroke channels and of the wide‐band electric fields from the same strokes were obtained for 98 lightning flashes in three Florida storms. The lightning occurred at distances from about 10 km to near or beyond 40 km. The optical system consisted of a photomultiplier tube viewing a collimated slit assembly. The system had a vertical viewing angle of 0.4° (20 dB points) and was aimed 1.2° above the level plane. Light risetimes (10–90%) for 73 first strokes and 70 subsequent strokes varied from about 1 μs to about 60 μs. Nine out of 11 flashes that had three or more strokes and a first‐stroke light risetime less than 12 μs exhibited a statistically significant correlation between either the peak light or the logarithm of peak light and the initial peak electric field for strokes within a flash. Only one out of seven flashes that had three or more strokes and a first‐stroke light risetime greater than 12 μs exhibited this correlation.

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