Pure Corona Initiation from Colliding Raindrops

Vicki Schroeder and Marcia Baker

Geophysics Program, University of Washington, Box 351650, Seattle, 98195

z axis

Streamer Model:
Active region boundary (ra), where the ionization coefcient ((E/p)) = attachment coefcient ((E/p)).

Goal: To study the initiation of pure corona from colliding raindrops in thunderclouds. Specically, we wish to examine the effect that cosmic ray produced free electrons have on initiation.

electried cloud ++ + +++ ++ + + + +++

High X-ray emissions measured in electried clouds prior to lightning indicate the presence of fast/high energy electrons (produced by cosmic rays). Each fast electron produces a large number (~ 30 000) of slow/low energy electrons [1]. Crabb and Latham [2] observed that when a large drop underwent a glancing collision with a small droplet, the coalesced drop pair was highly elongated and corona was sometimes produced at the ends.

Corona:
In pure corona from raindrops there is no disruption of the drop surface. The critical E-eld values at which initiation of such corona occurs depend on:

Electron avalanche

For z < ra, () > 0 and there is a net growth of electrons i.e. an avalanche.

z=0 Streamer head with N positive ions. 0 N = n e exp ( ) dz ra where ne = number of free electrons. For corona initiation to occur we need N > Nstability, the # of positive ions that produce an E-eld sufcient to produce a new streamer head identical to the rst [3].

Ecritical is lower if: 1. drop shape the drop is more elongated the pressure is lower there are more free electrons available
beam of fast electrons

L/2 R

2. pressure

slow electrons

3. number of free electrons

fast electrons

elongated, coalesced drop pair

Coalesced drop pair modeled as an ellipsoid External E-eld

Conclusion:
The vast number of secondary, low energy electrons produced by fast electron beams in thunderclouds may play an important role in the initiation and propagation of corona. The results from our simple model show that the pure corona initiation mechanism in the presence of externally supplied electrons becomes competitive with other observed processes at pressures relevant to lightning initiation. Our model only takes into account the presence of the secondary electrons, not their energy. We speculate that if their energy was taken into account, Ecritical for pure corona would be lower still.

Propagation:
Once initiated, a streamer can propagate if the external Eeld is high enough that continual electron avalanches reproduce the streamer head (i.e. N=Nstability positive charges) at increasing distance from the drop surface. We nd that Nstability decreases as ne increases. Therefore, the E-eld required for propagation will decrease with ne, if these electrons are continuously supplied over the lifetime of the streamer.
7 x 10
7

Corona Initiation:
Ecritical is the external E-eld needed to produce corona at the coalesced drop pair surface. For ne > 1 it was assumed that all avalanches started at ra along the z-axis. The choice of values of ne was based on calculations using data from Roussel-Dupres work on fast electron beams [1]. The lines denoted by C&L represent the Ecritical values measured by Crabb and Latham in their laboratory experiments [2]. The initiation of corona in these cases involves disruption of the drop surface and is pressure independent.

100 n_e=1, C=711 200 300 n_e = 1 n_e = 100 n_e = 1000

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 C&L 100 200 300 C&L 400 500 E_critical (kV/m) 600 700 800 1000 0 100 200 300 C&L 400 500 E_critical (kV/m) 600 700 800 n_e = 1 n_e = 100 n_e = 1000

n_e=100, C=554 n_e=1000, C=482

5 400 N_stability 4 500 600 700 p (mbar)

Acknowledgments:
Support for this work was provided by NASA Grant: NAG8-1150

References:
[1] R.A. Roussel-Dupre, A.V. Gurevich, T. Tunnell, G.M. Milikh, Kinetic Theory of Runaway Air Breakdown and Implications for Lightning Initiation, Los Alamos Report, Nov 1993. [2] J.A. Crabb and J. Latham, Corona from colliding drops as a possible mechanism for the triggering of lightning, Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc, 100, 191 - 202, 1974 [3] I. Gallimberti, The mechanism of the long spark formation, Journal de Physique, 40, C193-C250, 1979

p (mbar) 1 2 3 4 5 6 E_surface [V/m] 7 8 9 10 x 10

6

800 900

1 1000 0 0

Fig 3: Nstability is given in terms of Esurface, the total applied electric eld at the surface of the streamer head. Over the range of surface elds of interest to us, Nstability is linear in Esurface i.e. Nstability = N0 - C Esurface.

Fig 1: Corona initiation as a function of Ecritical and pressure for a coalesced drop pair with L=20mm, R=0.65mm. Crabb & Latham measured two values of Ecritical at this length.

Fig 2: Corona initiation as a function of Ecritical and pressure for coalesced drop pair with L=15.4mm, R=0.65mm.