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TitleMeasuring Streamer Producing Thundercloud Electric Fields Using Radio Observations of Narrow Bipolar Events
Date2025
Abstract The strong VHF radiation from compact intra-cloud discharges (CIDs) is attributed to streamers. An analytical model, taking altitude and applied electric field as input, is developed for effective representation of current for a double-headed exponentially growing streamer. The decay of streamer current is attributed to two- and three-body attachment of electrons to molecular oxygen. The model predicts streamers of growing strength and spatial scales at altitudes where electron losses due to three-body attachment are suppressed with reducing air pressure. We show that CIDs at higher altitudes develop during a longer period such that the spectral content of recorded sferics shifts towards lower frequencies. The model is used to interpret the recorded sferics of two CIDs originating from ~9.5 km altitude in terms of radio signals emanating from an ensemble of streamers. The driving thundercloud electric fields are found to be ~0.4Ek, where Ek is conventional breakdown threshold field.
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Data DOIdoi:10.26208/qaq0-az51

Researchers
Pervez, Z.
Penn State Department of Electrical Engineering
Janalizadeh, R.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Pasko, V. P.
Penn State Department of Electrical Engineering

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References
Pervez, Z., Janalizadeh, R., & Pasko, V. P. (2025). Measuring streamer producing thundercloud electric fields using radio observations of narrow bipolar events. Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2025GL118469. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL118469