Cutoff and Emergence of Dart Leaders in an Unbranched Positive Leader Simulation

Abstract Channel cutoff is the process by which an active lightning channel cools down, goes dark, and loses its ability to effectively conduct electricity. Current cutoff precedes several lightning phenomena, notably dart leaders and return strokes, but the process by which a hot, highly‐conducting leader channel can undergo current cutoff is poorly understood. In this work, we present self‐consistent simulations of positive leader propagation, which include coupled treatment of electrodynamics and plasma physics. The unstable positive leader spontaneously undergoes channel cutoff and creates the conditions for the emission of dart leaders, that is, it accumulates a packet of negative charge at the intersection between cutoff and conducting channel segments. A residual conductivity in the cutoff section facilitates the conversion of the electric field enhancement into a traveling wave, which retraces and reionizes the channel. This is critical for allowing the frail positive leader to keep propagating.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2025-10-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl117337
Primary Topic
Chaos, Complexity, and Education
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Cutoff and Emergence of Dart Leaders in an Unbranched Positive Leader Simulation

Jacob Wemhoner, O. Schölten, B. M. Hare, Adonis F. R. Leal et al.
Geophysical Research Letters
Chaos, Complexity, and Education
article

Cutoff and Emergence of Dart Leaders in an Unbranched Positive Leader Simulation

Jacob Wemhoner, O. Schölten, B. M. Hare, Adonis F. R. Leal, S. Heckman, Richard Sonnenfeld, Caitano L. da Silva, Michael Stock, Xuan‐Min Shao, Daniel Jensen, John G. Pantuso
article en

Abstract

Abstract Channel cutoff is the process by which an active lightning channel cools down, goes dark, and loses its ability to effectively conduct electricity. Current cutoff precedes several lightning phenomena, notably dart leaders and return strokes, but the process by which a hot, highly‐conducting leader channel can undergo current cutoff is poorly understood. In this work, we present self‐consistent simulations of positive leader propagation, which include coupled treatment of electrodynamics and plasma physics. The unstable positive leader spontaneously undergoes channel cutoff and creates the conditions for the emission of dart leaders, that is, it accumulates a packet of negative charge at the intersection between cutoff and conducting channel segments. A residual conductivity in the cutoff section facilitates the conversion of the electric field enhancement into a traveling wave, which retraces and reionizes the channel. This is critical for allowing the frail positive leader to keep propagating.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 52(19)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (US), University of Groningen (NL), Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (US), New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (US), NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (US), Senseonics (United States) (US), Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (NL)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 71%
Chaos, Complexity, and Education
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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