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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]

We present the first analysis of surface current fields derived from TerraSAR-X along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radar (along-track InSAR, ATI) data. The images were acquired over the mouth of the Elbe river (Germany) during six satellite overpasses in spring and summer 2008, using the experimental "aperture switching" mode of TerraSAR-X. In this mode, the phased-array synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antenna is split into two halves for receiving, but in contrast to the "dual receive antenna" mode, which uses two independent receivers in parallel, a single receiver is multiplexed to process signals from the two antenna halves in an alternating manner at a doubled pulse repetition frequency. The effective ATI baseline is on the order of 0.8 m. The SAR/ATI raw data processing is described in another paper in this issue. This paper focuses on the conversion of the basic interferograms into line-of-sight surface current fields, which includes an elimination of ship signatures, identification, and correction (as far as possible) of imaging artifacts, additional filtering and smoothing, and a subtraction of contributions of wave motions to detected velocities according to a theoretical model. We evaluate the quality of the results by comparison with current fields from a numerical flow model and with available in situ data. The ATI performance of TerraSAR-X is found to be basically consistent with theoretical expectations. After applying the same data processing algorithms to all six images, mean differences between TerraSAR-X-derived currents and reference currents in our main test area range from -0.11 to +0.08 m/s in five of the six cases with one outlier at +0.42 m/s. The spatial current variations within the TerraSAR-X-derived current fields are consistent with the model in three cases, but unrealistically strong variations across the images are found in the other three cases. We attribute this to shortcomings of our preliminary raw data processing algorithms, which can probably be fixed after some more detailed analysis and testing. The results obtained so far encourage us to believe that our internal performance goal of a typical current measuring accuracy of 0.1 m/s at an effective spatial resolution better than 1 km can be met. [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]