Relativistic Electron Beams Above Thunderclouds

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bath
Department Name: Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Abstract

It has recently been discovered that lightning generates upward-directed relativistic electron beams above thunderclouds. This extends the phenomenon of relativistic runaway breakdown inside thunderclouds to the atmosphere above thunderclouds. This marks a profound advance in our understanding of the atmosphere because we now know it acts as a giant, natural, particle accelerator. The accelerated electrons can reach significant relativistic energies of some tens of MeV during their passage from the troposphere, through the middle atmosphere, into near-Earth space. These relativistic electron beams constitute a current above thunderclouds and effectively transfer energy from the troposphere to the middle atmosphere. This coupling process thereby forms a novel element of the global atmospheric electric circuit which links tropospheric thunderclouds to the atmosphere above.

Publications

10 25 50
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Arnone E (2019) Climatology of Transient Luminous Events and Lightning Observed Above Europe and the Mediterranean Sea in Surveys in Geophysics

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Bai X (2023) Height Determination of a Blue Discharge Observed by ASIM/MMIA on the International Space Station in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

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Bai X (2022) Coherency of Lightning Sferics in Radio Science

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Fullekrug M (2011) Sprites and energetic radiation above thunderstorms

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Füllekrug M (2013) Electron acceleration above thunderclouds in Environmental Research Letters

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Füllekrug M (2021) Global Lightning Quanta in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

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Füllekrug M (2012) Energetic Charged Particles Above Thunderclouds in Surveys in Geophysics

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Füllekrug M (2013) Sprites in low-frequency radio noise in Geophysical Research Letters

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Füllekrug M (2016) Mapping lightning in the sky with a mini array in Geophysical Research Letters

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Füllekrug M (2011) Relativistic electron beams above thunderclouds in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

 
Description Novel radio waveforms have been discovered which are inidicative of electron beams above thunderclouds as predicted by theory. The electron beams are part of the discharge processes above thunderclouds which occur after particularly intense positive lightning discharges.
Exploitation Route The results led to the development of a novel broadband radio receiver in the NERC grant NE/L012669/1. This will enable the tomographic imaging of boundary layer humidity and the detection of preliminary breakdown inside thunderclouds prior to lightning discharges. The technology has been developed further to work in array configuration.
Sectors Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment
 
Description The findings led to a publication in Environmental Research Letters that was downloaded 26888 times to date and cited 5 times within the first year after publication. It is planned to use the results in future experiments for the artificial generation of electron beams in the atmosphere. The project led to the inception of the "CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity" which offers numerous meetings and consultancy.
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment
Impact Types Cultural
 
Description Impact of lightning discharges on the lower ionosphere near the South African Square Kilometre Array
Amount £11,900 (GBP)
Funding ID NMG_R1_180252 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 08/2020
 
Description Marie Curie ITN
Amount € 3,996,875 (EUR)
Funding ID MSCA-ITN-ETN-722337 
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start 03/2017 
End 03/2021
 
Description ORigin determination and improved detectAbility of Celestial-to-Local phEnomena by the VLF technique
Amount € 212,934 (EUR)
Funding ID 101019319 
Organisation European Commission H2020 
Sector Public
Country Belgium
Start 07/2022 
End 06/2024
 
Title Data for Lightning Sferics: Complex Waveform Analysis 
Description Data for figures in the publication 'Lightning Sferics: Analysis of the Instantaneous Phase and Frequency Inferred From Complex Waveforms'. The dataset contains the averaged lightning waveforms at different distances, and the code is used to produce each figure in publication. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Data for Mapping Lightning in the Sky with a Mini Array 
Description Data for Mapping Lightning in the Sky with a Mini Array 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Data for the publication 'First Map of Coherent Low Frequency Continuum Radiation in the Sky' 
Description This data is to illustrate the theory, data analysis, and exemplary results of the array processing described in the corresponding publication entitled 'First map of coherent low frequency continuum radiation in the sky'. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Data for the publication 'Maximum sprite streamer luminosity near the stratopause' 
Description This data is to illustrate the results described in the corresponding publication entitled 'Maximum sprite streamer luminosity near the stratopause'. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Data for the publication: 'Detection of low frequency continuum radiation' 
Description These data illustrate the theory, data analysis, and exemplary results of the array processing described in the corresponding publication entitled 'Detection of low frequency continuum radiation'. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Dataset for Radio Science "Lower ionosphere effects on narrowband VLF transmission propagation: fast variabilities and frequency dependence" 
Description The data are processed from electric field recordings from an array network and shows the disturbance on a VLF (very low frequency) transmission attributed to lower ionospheric electrical properties. The micro-second time resolution received transmission (filtered and frequency shifted to baseband) averaged across the receivers in the network are contained in a MatLab binary (.mat) file. The disturbance on the transmitted signal is obtained by comparing to a simulated transmission. The MatLab scripts to perform this processing are provided. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Geophysical Research Letters, 2016 
Description Radio science data set for Geophysical Research Letters, 2016 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Public data without access control. 
URL http://dx.doi.org/10.15125BATH-00243
 
Title Ionospheric signals from sub-ionospheric radio transmissions on 2016 August 27 
Description Data collected from a wideband radio receiver in Bath, UK was analysed to obtain ionospheric signals from narrow band sub-ionospheric radio transmissions. The transmissions analysed in the dataset are callsigns GBZ (19.58kHz), GQD (22.1kHz), DHO (23.4kHz) and MSF (60kHz). The ionospheric signals reveal perturbations in the ionosphere along the propagation paths of the transmissions during the period of measurement on 2016 August 27. The dataset includes the processed ionospheric signals in Matlab binary format together with scripts that were used to obtain the ionospheric signals from the raw radio data. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Radio Science 2015 - data 
Description Radio science data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2015 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Public data base without access control. 
URL http://dx.doi.org/10.15125/BATH-00121
 
Title Radio Science, 2016 
Description Radio science data for publication, 2016 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Public data without access control. 
URL https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH-00242
 
Description CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity 
Organisation University of Bristol
Department School of Physics
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The collaboration resulted in a virtual institute, named CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity. The contribution from the University of Bath is to hold the annual CTR Wilson Meetings for Atmospheric Electricity and the setup of a website at ctrwiae.org
Collaborator Contribution The other partners assist with the organisation of the above meetings and to spread the knowledge on atmospheric electricity in the UK, in particular within the Royal Meteorological Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, and the International Union of Radio Science.
Impact http://ctrwiae.org http://witter.com/atmos_elect http://twitter.com/ctrwiae
Start Year 2013
 
Description CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity 
Organisation University of Oxford
Department Oxford School of Public Health
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The collaboration resulted in a virtual institute, named CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity. The contribution from the University of Bath is to hold the annual CTR Wilson Meetings for Atmospheric Electricity and the setup of a website at ctrwiae.org
Collaborator Contribution The other partners assist with the organisation of the above meetings and to spread the knowledge on atmospheric electricity in the UK, in particular within the Royal Meteorological Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, and the International Union of Radio Science.
Impact http://ctrwiae.org http://witter.com/atmos_elect http://twitter.com/ctrwiae
Start Year 2013
 
Description CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity 
Organisation University of Reading
Department Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The collaboration resulted in a virtual institute, named CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity. The contribution from the University of Bath is to hold the annual CTR Wilson Meetings for Atmospheric Electricity and the setup of a website at ctrwiae.org
Collaborator Contribution The other partners assist with the organisation of the above meetings and to spread the knowledge on atmospheric electricity in the UK, in particular within the Royal Meteorological Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, and the International Union of Radio Science.
Impact http://ctrwiae.org http://witter.com/atmos_elect http://twitter.com/ctrwiae
Start Year 2013
 
Description MetOffice 
Organisation Meteorological Office UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The NERC grant led to a collaboration with the MetOffice. The contribution of the University of Bath to the MetOffice is to assist with design of the ATD lightning detection network and to promote the use of MetOffice lightning data in the scientific community. The collaboration is formalised by a PhD student who is working in close collaboration with the MetOffice and numerous projects were held in Exeter and Bath. The collaboration resulted in 2 joint publications thus far (Geophysical Research Letters and Radio Science).
Collaborator Contribution The MetOffice assisted with the funding of a PhD student and the necessary equipment to conduct the necessary scientific studies.
Impact (1) M. Füllekrug, Z. Liu, K. Koh, A. Mezentsev, S. Pedeboy, S. Soula, S. Enno, J. Sugier, M. Rycroft, Mapping lightning in the sky with mini-array, Geophysical Research Letters, 43, doi:10.1002/2016GL070737, 1-7, 2016. (2) Z. Liu, K. Koh, A. Mezentsev, S. Enno, J. Sugier, and M. Füllekrug Variable phase propagation velocity for long-range lightning location system, Radio Science, 51, 10.1002/2016RS006058, 1-10, 2016. (3) Several contributions to scientific conferences.
Start Year 2013