National Academies Press: OpenBook

The Earth's Electrical Environment (1986)

Chapter: References

« Previous: ELECTROSTATICALLY PRODUCED ACOUSTIC EMISSIONS
Suggested Citation:"References." National Research Council. 1986. The Earth's Electrical Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/898.
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Page 59
Suggested Citation:"References." National Research Council. 1986. The Earth's Electrical Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/898.
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Page 60

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ACOUSTIC RADIATIONS FROM LIGHTNING 59 seconds) come into dynamic equilibrium where the hydrodynamic drag force associated with their motion is balanced by the sum of all the externally expressed forces. When the electric field is quickly reduced by a lightning flash the cloud particles readjust to a new dynamic equilibrium. The change in the hydrodynamic drag force requires a change in the pressure distributions surrounding all the charged cloud particles; hence, the pressure in the volume continuing the cloud particles is altered by the sudden reduction of the electric field. Since the electric force from a charge concentration is outward, the pressure inside the charged volume will be slightly lower than the surrounding air. When E is reduced by the lightning flash the charged volume produces a slight implosion; this radiates a negative wave. Few (1982) derived a general expression for the internal pressure gradient produced by the electrostatic force; when integrated the result is In Eq. (4.9) the parameter n takes the value 0 for plane geometry, 1 for cylindrical geometry, and 2 for spherical geometry; P0 and E 0 are the values at the edge of the charged volume. The amplitude of this pressure signal is related to the electric field, the wavelength to the thickness of the charged region, and the directivity of the wave to the geometry to the source (Dessler, 1973). If the theory can be quantitatively verified, the signal can be used to determine remotely internal cloud electric parameters. The experimental search for electrostatic pressure waves has been difficult. The wave is low frequency (~ 1 Hz), small amplitude (~ 1 Pa), and buried in large background pressure variations produced by wind, turbulence, and thunder. Prior to Dessler's prediction of beaming, one wondered why the signal was not more frequently seen in thunder measurements. Holmes et al. (1971) measured a low-frequency component in a few of their power spectra of thunder but found these components completely missing in others. Dessler showed that that signal would be beamed for cylindrical and disk geometry; the disk case would require that the detectors be placed directly underneath the charged volume for observation. This relationship has been observed by Bohannon et al. (1977) and by Balachandran (1979, 1983). The electrostatic pressure wave predicted by the theory discussed above is a negative pulse. The measured acoustic signature thought to be the verification of the prediction actually exhibits a positive pulse followed by a negative pulse (see Figure 4.11). The negative pulse appears to fit the theory, but the theory is deficient in that the positive component of the wave is not described. Recently, Few (1984) suggested that the diabatic heating of the air in the charged volume by positive streamers may be the source of the positive pulse. Colgate and McKee (1969) described theoretically an electrostatic pressure pulse using this same mechanism but applied to a volume of charged air surrounding a stepped leader. This particular signature has not been experimentally verified because it has the regular thunder signal, which is 300 times more energetic, superimposed on it. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author's research into the acoustic radiations from lightning has been supported under various grants and contracts from the Meteorology Program, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, National Science Foundation, and the Atmospheric Sciences Program, Office of Naval Research; their support is gratefully acknowledged. References Arnold, R. T. (1982). Storm acoustics, in Instruments and Techniques for Thunderstorm Observation and Analysis , E. Kessler, ed., U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., pp. 99-116 . Balachandran, N. K. (1979). Infrasonic signals from thunder, J. Geophys. Res. 84 , 1735-1745 . Balachandran, N. K. (1983). Acoustic and electric signals from lightning, J. Geophys. Res. 88 , 3879-3884 . Bass, H. E. (1980). The propagation of thunder through the atmosphere, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 67 , 1959-1966 . Bohannon, J. L. (1978). Infrasonic pulses from thunderstorms, M.S.thesis, Rice Univ., Houston, Tex. Bohannon, J. L., A. A. Few, and A. J. Dessler (1977). Detection of infrasonic pulses from thunderclouds, Geophys. Res. Lett. 4 , 49-52 . Brode, H. L. (1955). Numerical solutions of spherical blast waves, J. Appl. Phys. 26 , 766 . Brode, H. L. (1956). The blast wave in air resulting from a high temperature, high pressure sphere of air, Rand Corp. Res. Memorandum RM-1825-AEC. Colgate, S. A., and C. McKee (1969). Electrostatic sound in clouds and lightning, J. Geophys. Res. 74 , 5379-5389 . Dessler, A. J. (1973). Infrasonic thunder, J. Geophys. Res. 78 , 1889-1896 . Few, A. A. (1969). Power spectrum of thunder, J. Geophys. Res. 74 , 6926-6934 . Few, A. A. (1970). Lightning channel reconstruction from thunder measurements, J. Geophys. Res. 75 , 7517-7523 . Few, A. A. (1974a). Thunder signatures, EOS 55 , 508-514 . Few, A. A. (1974b). Lightning sources in severe thunderstorms, in Conference on Cloud Physics (Preprint volume), American Meteorological Society, Boston, Mass., pp. 387-390 . Few, A. A. (1975). Thunder, Sci. Am. 233(1), 80-90 . Few, A. A. (1982). Acoustic radiations from lightning, in Handbook of Atmospherics , Vol. 2 , H. Volland, ed., CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., pp. 257-289 . Few, A. A. (1984). Lightning-associated infrasonic acoustic sources, in

ACOUSTIC RADIATIONS FROM LIGHTNING 60 Preprints: VII International Conference of Atmospheric Electricity , American Meteorological Society, Boston, Mass., pp. 484-486 . Few, A. A., and T. L. Teer (1974). The accuracy of acoustic reconstructions of lightning channels, J. Geophys. Res. 79 , 5007-5011 . Few, A. A., H. B. Garrett, M. A. Uman, and L. E. Salanave (1970). Comments on letter by W. W. Troutman, "Numerical calculation of the pressure pulse from a lightning stroke," J. Geophys. Res. 75 , 4192-4195 . Few, A. A., T. L. Teer, and D. R. MacGorman (1977). Advances in a decade of thunder research, in Electrical Processes in Atmospheres , H. Dolezelak and R. Reiter, eds., Steinkopff, Darmstadt, pp. 628-632 . Few, A. A., D. R. MacGorman, and J. L. Bohannon (1978). Thundercloud charge distributions, inferences from the intracloud structure of lightning channels, in Conference on Cloud Physics and Atmospheric Electricity , American Meteorological Society, Boston, Mass., pp. 591-596 . Fleagle, R. G. (1949). The audibility of thunder, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 21 , 411 . Georges, T. M. (1982). Infrasound from thunderstorms, in Instruments and Techniques for Thunderstorm Observation and Analysis , E. Kessler, ed., U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., pp. 117-133 . Hill, R. D. (1971). Channel heating in return-stroke lightning, J. Geophys. Res. 76 , 637-645 . Hill, R. D. (1977). Thunder, in Lightning , R. H. Golde, ed., Academic Press, New York, pp. 385-408 . Holmes, C. R., M. Brook, P. Krehbiel, and R. A. McCrory (1971). On the power spectrum and mechanism of thunder, J. Geophys. Res. 76 , 2106-2115 . Kinsler, L. E., and A. R. Frey (1962). Fundamentals of Acoustics , 2nd ed., Wiled, New York, 523 pp . Krider, E. P., and C. Guo (1983). The peak electromagnetic power radiated by lightning return strokes, J. Geophys. Res. 88 , 8471-8474 . Krider, E. P., G. A. Dawson, and M. A. Uman (1968). Peak power and energy dissipation in a single-stroke lightning flash, J. Geophys. Res. 73 , 3335-3339 . Landau, L. D., and E. M. Lifshitz (1959). Fluid Mechanics , Pergamon Press, London, 536 pp . MacGorman, D. R., and A. A. Few (1978). Correlations between radar reflectivity contours and lightning channels for a Colorado storm on 25 July 1972, Conference on Cloud Physics and Atmospheric Electricity , American Meteorological Society, Boston, Mass., pp. 597-600 . MacGorman, D. R., A. A. Few, and T. L. Teer (1981). Layered lightning activity, J. Geophys. Res. 86 , 9900-9910 . McGehee, R. M. (1964). The influence of thunderstorm space charges on pressure, J. Geophys. Res. 69 , 1033-1035 . Nakano, M. (1973). Lightning channel determined by thunder, Proc. Res. Inst. Atmospherics (Nagoya Univ.) 20, 1-7 . Orville, R. E. (1968). A high-speed time-resolved spectroscopic study of the lightning return stroke, J. Atmos. Sci. 25 , 827-856 . Otterman, J. (1959). Finite-amplitude propagation effect on shockwave travel times from explosions at high altitudes, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 31 , 470-747 . Pierce, A. D. (1981). Acoustics an Introduction to Its Physical Principles and Applications , McGraw-Hill, New York, 642 pp . Plooster, M. N. (1968). Shock waves from line sources, NCAR-TN-37, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo., 83 pp . Plooster, M. N. (1971a). Numerical simulation of spark discharges in air, Phys. Fluid 14 , 2111-2123 . Plooster, M. N. (1971b). Numerical model of the return stroke of the lightning discharge, Phys. Fluids 14 , 2124-2133 . Ribner, H. S., and D. Roy (1982). Acoustics of thunder: A quasilinear model for tortuous lightning, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 72 , 1911-1925 . Sakurai, A. (1954). On the propagation and structure of the blast wave, 2, J. Phys. Soc. Japan 9 , 256-266 . Teer, T. L., and A. A. Few (1974). Horizontal lightning, J. Geophys. Res. 79 , 3436-3411 . Uman, M. A. (1969). Lightning , McGraw-Hill, New York. Uman, M. A., and R. E. Voshall (1968). Time interval between lightning strokes and the initiation of dart leaders, J. Geophys. Res. 73 , 497-506 . Uman, M. A., A. H. Cookson, and J. B. Moreland (1970). Shock wave from a four-meter spark, J. Appl. Phys. 41 , 3148-3155 . Uman, M. A., W.H. Beasley, J. A. Tiller, Y.-T. Lin, E. P. Krider, C. D. Weidman, P. R. Krehbiel, M. Brook, A. A. Few, Jr., J. L. Bohannon, C. L. Lennon, H. A. Poehler, W. Jafferis, J. R. Gluck, and J. R. Nicholson (1978). An unusual lightning flash at Kennedy Space Center, Science 201 , 9-16 . Weber, M. E., H. J. Christian, A. A. Few, and M. F. Stewart (1982). A thundercloud electric field sounding: Charge distribution and lightning, J. Geophys. Res. 87 , 7158-7169 . Weidman, C. D., and E. P. Krider (1978). The fine structure of lightning return stroke wave forms, J. Geophys. Res. 83 , 6239-6247 . Wilson, C. T. R. (1920). Investigations on lightning discharges and on the electric field of thunderstorms, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 221 , 73-115 . Winn, W. P., C. B. Moore, C. R. Holmes, and L. G. Byerly (1978). Thunderstorm on July 16, 1975, over Langmuir Laboratory: A case Study, J. Geophys. Res. 83 , 3079-3092 .

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This latest addition to the Studies in Geophysics series explores in scientific detail the phenomenon of lightning, cloud, and thunderstorm electricity, and global and regional electrical processes. Consisting of 16 papers by outstanding experts in a number of fields, this volume compiles and reviews many recent advances in such research areas as meteorology, chemistry, electrical engineering, and physics and projects how new knowledge could be applied to benefit mankind.

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