Search

In this paper, we present the currents, which have been measured since 2008 at the new top structure of the Peissenberg Tower, Germany, and the associated electric fields in a distance of about 180 m from the tower. The study comprises 17 negative lightning, which contained 44 subsequent return strokes, 108 initial continuous current (ICC)-pulses, and 26 M-components. The analysis, based on the current waveform, revealed three different types for both the M-component current and the ICC-pulse. The impulsive current of type 1 has a more or less symmetrical wave shape. For this type, the electric field occurred on average 15.7 μs prior to the current pulse. The impulsive current of type 2 has a bipolar wave shape with current reversal. The impulsive current of type 3 has a wave shape, which exhibits a fast rise to peak and a much longer decay to low current values. For all types of impulsive currents (return strokes, ICC-pulses, and M-components), the electric field exhibits a first field change (ΔE1) followed by a second field change (ΔE2) of opposite polarity. For the ICC-pulses and M-component currents of types 1 and 3, the first field change (ΔE1) has typically an initial slow-rising section, which is followed by a fast-rising section. The transition point was time-correlated with the onset of the current. The transition point was at about ΔE1/3 for type 1 and at about ΔE1/2 for type 3. For type 2, the onset of the current pulse occurred during the second field change (ΔE2) of opposite polarity. Similar to type 1 and 3 pulses, the slow-rising electric field changed into a fast-rising electric field. The transition point for type 2 pulse was at about ΔE2/3. From the 44 subsequent return strokes, 8 of them contained one negative M-component of type 1. In that case, the M-component current was extremely strong. The arithmetic mean (AM) was 8.5 kA (GM: 5.4 kA) for the peak current and 747.8 mC (GM: 614.0 mC) for the transferred charge. The return stroke was also very strong, with an AM of 16.7 kA for the peak current (GM: 15.0 kA). In comparison, the AM was 10.4 kA (GM: 8.3 kA) considering all subsequent return strokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subject matter of this paper is the analysis of the total of six upward positive lightning initiated from the Peissenberg Tower, Germany. All of them occurred during the cold season from February to April in the years 1997 to 1999. Three of them were initiated without nearby preceding lightning activity (called “self-initiated” upward lightning) and the other three occurred during nearby lightning activity (called “other-triggered” up-ward lightning). The analysis suggests that the other-triggered upward lightning is a downward lightning involving a relatively long upward connecting leader. The first current component, however, was different from the current of a first return stroke of a positive cloud-to-ground flash. On average, the duration was 15.7 ms, the maximum was 4.37 kA, and the charge was 13.3 C. Due to the long duration and the relatively low current, the first current component is more consistent with the initial continuous current (ICC) of an upward lightning. The initial period of the ICC exhibits a slowly rising portion lasting about 1 ms. During that period, the ICC was superimposed by weak current pulses. The arithmetic means of the pulse peak and the pulse duration were 0.49 kA and 9.6 μs, respectively. The average leader velocity was \bf \bf 2.3 \, \bm \times \,\bf 10^\bf 5 m/s and the average leader charge density was \bf 1.02 \, \bf \times\, \bf 10^\bf -3 C/m. Much stronger current pulses were observed after that initial period. Then, the arithmetic means were 5.3 kA for the pulse peak and 46.6 μs for the pulse duration. The ICC of the self-initiated upward lightning did not exhibit such an initial slowly rising portion with weak superimposed current pulses. The ICC immediately increased to several kilo-amperes involving strong current pulsation. For the ICC, the arithmetic means were 58 ms for the duration, 6.4 kA for the maximum, and 105 C for the charge. For the current pulses, the arithmetic means were 5.7 kA for the pulse peak and 19 μs for the pulse duration. The leader charge density was estimated to be up to several 10 mC/m. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the slow-varying electric fields and the associated currents of a total of 35 negative upward lightning initiated by the Peissenberg tower, Germany. Thirty-four of which were from winter upward lightning and only one from summer upward lightning. It appears that all of the winter upward lightning were initiated without nearby preceding lightning activity (called “self-initiated” lightning) and only the summer lightning was triggered by nearby lightning activity (called “other-triggered” lightning). The slow-varying electric fields of the winter upward lightning showed a fast rise characterized by the 10–90% risetime, with an arithmetic mean of 13.8 ms. After attaining the maximum, the electric field turned into a slow decay being characterized by the time on half value which was evaluated to having the arithmetic mean of 441 ms. Transported charges to ground were on average 44.8 C and on maximum 165 C. The maximum value of the electric field was 39.9 kV/m on average, with the highest value being 64.5 kV/m. For the electric fields, higher values were prevented by recovery effects such as the corona from objects at ground and the redistribution of the charge in the thundercloud. Due to these effects, no or only weak correlations were found between the 10–90% risetime, the time on half value, the charge, and the maximum of the electric field. From additional measurements with a field mill, it was found that the electric field recovers to the starting level within some seconds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, we analyze a lightning event, which occurred on March 20, 2020 at 8:05 pm. Three other-triggered upward lightning developed simultaneously from the 150 m high Peissenberg Tower and from two small structures, a 35 m high mast and a 25 m high Church Tower. The velocity of the upward leaders ranged from 2.1 × 104 to 4.1 × 104 m/s. In addition, to these upward leaders, the total of 51 isolated leaders were observed. These leaders had no contact to the lightning channel or to other leaders or to objects at ground, i.e., most of them did not develop along a path of the decayed channel of a previous leader. Therefore, it is doubtful whether the isolated leaders may be recoil leaders. The lightning to the Peissenberg Tower was a bipolar flash with a current, which contained several (unusual) positive and negative components. The first component was a negative initial continuous current (ICC), followed by a strong negative current component, with a maximum of 4.1 kA and a duration of 40.2 ms. This current component was superimposed by a pulse train of 26 extremely strong current pulses with peak values up to 1.87 kA. The negative current component was followed by a positive current pulse with a peak value of 31 kA, a 10%–90% risetime of 1.80 ms, an action integral of 0.68 MJ/Ω, a full width on half maximum of 0.67 ms and a duration of 15.7 ms. The positive current pulse was superimposed by strong oscillations with the frequency of about 5 kHz and with amplitudes up to 10.2 kA. After its cessation, the positive current pulse turned into a negative continuing current with the duration of 217 ms, the maximum of 245 A, and the transferred charge of 18.0 C. The negative continuing current was followed by a negative return stroke which in turn was followed by a positive continuing current, which lasted 19.7 ms and had a maximum of 173 A. Finally, a second negative return stroke occurred, which was followed by a short negative continuing current with an M-component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a lightning strikes a high object, the current flows along the object and produces in this way a field component additional to the field radiated from the lightning channel. This additional field component enhances the field compared to lightning to flat ground. In this article, the field enhancement is analyzed for lightning striking the Peissenberg Tower, Germany. The analysis is based on investigations of the far field at distances from 10 to 1000 km. In the computer simulations, the return stroke process is taken into account with the transmission line (TL)-model and the tower is modelled with the computer program CONCEPT II based on the method of moments. In a first step, the pure effect of the tower is analyzed. In this case, the ground is taken into account as perfectly conducting plane. In the next step, the effect of the field propagation is added by introducing an attenuation function based on the solution of Sommerfeld and a far-field approximation of Norton. For fast rising return stroke currents and relatively near distances between 10 and 30 km, the field enhancement may exceed 100%. The field enhancement decreases strongly with decreasing soil conductivity (σ) and increasing distance (s), while the influence of the permittivity (ϵ) is rather small. At a distance of more than 100 km the field enhancement is typically in the range of some tens of percent. This result agrees well with the data of the European lightning location system EUCLID. From EUCLID an average field enhancement of about 20% is reported for lightning striking the Peissenberg Tower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]