The Impact of Intracloud Negative Branches on Continuing Current in Negative Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning

Abstract Continuing current (CC) in cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning plays a critical role, particularly in wildfire ignition, yet CC's mechanism remains an open question. This study analyzes six CG flashes captured by the high‐speed camera at Beijing and Lhasa, which reveal the propagation of intracloud negative leaders before and after each return stroke. While the positive leaders are invisible, obscured by the cloud, we quantified the cumulative channel extension of negative branches. We find that the short CC is linked with vigorous negative branches after the stroke, while the long CC correlates with near absence of negative branches. Assuming a stable propagation of positive leaders before and after negative strokes, the duration of CC could be controlled by the current competition between intracloud negative leaders and the stroke channel. This study provides novel insights into CC mechanisms and suggests a new method to evaluate CC duration.