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Lightning Propagation and Ground Attachment Processes from Multiple-Station Electric Field and X-Ray Measurements

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Lightning Propagation and Ground Attachment Processes from Multiple-Station Electric Field and X-Ray Measurements LIGHTNING PROPAGATION AND GROUND ATTACHMENT PROCESSES FROM MULTIPLE-STATION ELECTRIC FIELD AND X-RAY MEASUREMENTS By JOSEPH SEAN HOWARD A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2009 1 © 2009 Joseph Sean Howard 2 To my beautiful, loving, and very understanding wife, Amber 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation for my committee chair and Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Martin Uman. He has always extended the highest degree of kindness and friendship. This work would simply not have been possible without his support and guidance, and I will certainly never forget him. I would also like thank my co-chair, Dr. Vladimir Rakov, for his gracious support and thoughtful comments throughout the years. Of course, there are many people to whom I am indebted for their long hours and enduring effort out at the research facility. These individuals include Jason Jerauld, Chris Biagi, Dustin Hill, Michael Stapleton, Robert Olsen III, Dr. Doug Jordan, Ziad Saleh, and George Schnetzer. I would like to extend a special thanks to Jason Jerauld for taking me under his wing and being a pillar of support through my graduate studies and to Chris Biagi for being an excellent friend and co-worker during our time together. I would also like to thank Dr. Joseph Dwyer and Dr. Hamid Rassoul, our collaborators from the Florida Institute of Technology. I especially want to thank my wife, Amber, for her tremendous support and sacrifice through these difficult years. This work was funded in part by the DARPA (HR0011-08-1-0088), the NSF (ATM 0420820, ATM 0607885, ATM 0003994, ATM 0346164, and ATM 0133773), and the FAA (99-G-043). Additionally, I received financial support for 4 years from a UF Alumni Fellowship. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................8 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................10 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................17 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................17 1.2 The Global Electric Circuit, Thunderclouds, and Lightning.........................................21 1.3 Downward Negative Lightning .....................................................................................25 1.4 Rocket-Triggered Lightning .........................................................................................38 1.5 Additional Observations of Downward-Negative-Leader/Upward-Return-Stroke Sequences ......................................................................................................................41 1.5.1 Return-Stroke Waveforms ................................................................................41 1.5.2 X-Ray Observations ..........................................................................................46 1.6 Determining Lightning Locations Via Time-of-Arrival ...............................................50 1.7 The International Center for Lightning Research and Testing at Camp Blanding, Florida ...........................................................................................................................60 1.8 History of the Multiple Station Experiment ..................................................................61 2 EXPERIMENT DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................73 2.1 Experiment Overview ...................................................................................................73 2.2 Control System ..............................................................................................................77 2.2.1 PIC Controllers .................................................................................................77 2.2.2 Control Computer .............................................................................................80 2.3 Fiber-Optic Links ..........................................................................................................81 2.4 Digital Storage Oscilloscopes .......................................................................................84 2.5 Measurement Implementation .......................................................................................91 2.5.1 Electric Field and Electric Field Time-Derivative Measurements ....................91 2.5.2 Magnetic Field Measurements ..........................................................................99 2.5.3 X-Ray Measurements ......................................................................................103 2.5.4 Optical Measurements .....................................................................................106 2.5.5 Channel-Base Current Measurements .............................................................108 2.6 Trigger and GPS Time-Stamping Systems .................................................................111 2.7 Video and Camera Systems ........................................................................................115 2.8 Measurement Locations and Time Delays ..................................................................119 3 DATA ...................................................................................................................................164 5 3.1 Data Summary and Organization ................................................................................164 3.2 Data Calibration and Processing .................................................................................166 4 LOCATING LIGHTNING EVENTS WITH THE MSE/TERA TOA NETWORK ...........174 4.1 Methodology ...............................................................................................................176 4.2 Implementation ...........................................................................................................179 4.2.1 Time Synchronization .....................................................................................180 4.2.2 Waveform Correlation and Visualization .......................................................182 4.2.3 Arrival Time Selection ....................................................................................184 4.2.4 Source Determination......................................................................................186 4.2.5 Documentation ................................................................................................187 4.3 Accuracy of the TOA System .....................................................................................188 5 LOCATION OF LIGHTNING LEADER X-RAY AND ELECTRIC FIELD CHANGE SOURCES ............................................................................................................................191 5.1 Data and Analysis .......................................................................................................192 5.2 Summary and Conclusions ..........................................................................................195 6 RF AND X-RAY SOURCE LOCATIONS DURING THE LIGHTING ATTACHMENT PROCESS ................................................................................................202 6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................202 6.2 Data and Analysis .......................................................................................................203 6.2.1 MSE0604 ........................................................................................................204 6.2.2 MSE0703 ........................................................................................................211 6.2.3 MSE0704 ........................................................................................................213 6.2.4 UF0707 ............................................................................................................216 6.3 Discussion ...................................................................................................................224 6.3.1 Electric Field and Field-Derivative Comparison ............................................224 6.3.2 Leader Phase ...................................................................................................228 6.3.3 Post-Leader Phase ...........................................................................................229 6.3.3.1 Leader burst ......................................................................................229 6.3.3.2 Slow-front pulses and the fast transition ..........................................231 6.4 Summary .....................................................................................................................232 7 EXAMINATION OF ELECTRIC FIELD DERIVATIVE WAVEFORMS ASSOCIATED WITH STEPPED LEADERS AT CLOSE RANGES ................................255 7.1 Presentation of Leader-Step Waveforms ....................................................................257
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