Effects of Side Bileaders on Parent Positive Leader

Abstract Side bileaders are commonly induced near a progressing positive leader, yet their effects on the parent positive leader remain poorly understood. Here we investigate their effects by combining high‐speed video with LF/VLF lightning channel mapping. Our results reveal that the approach of a bileader promotes needle‐like discharges from the lateral of parent channel, which act as connecting leaders. In eight out of nine side bileaders observed in two flashes, these connections significantly enhanced the luminosity of the positive leader channel on the trailing end from the connection point and formed a new positive branch. In one special case, the negative end of the side bileader propagated into high altitude (∼8 km) instead of connecting directly to the parent channel; its eventual connection increased the luminosity on the leading end of the parent channel and produced both new negative and positive branches. We propose a potential‐driven mechanism to explain these observations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2026-09-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026gl124922
Primary Topic
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Effects of Side Bileaders on Parent Positive Leader

Joan Montanyà, Dongshuai Li, Rubin Jiang, Xiushu Qie et al.
Geophysical Research Letters
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
article

Effects of Side Bileaders on Parent Positive Leader

Joan Montanyà, Dongshuai Li, Rubin Jiang, Xiushu Qie, Shanfeng Yuan, Oscar van der Velde, Yunjiao Pu, Zhuling Sun, Mingyuan Liu, Jiajin Feng, Yu Wang, Dongfang Wang
article en

Abstract

Abstract Side bileaders are commonly induced near a progressing positive leader, yet their effects on the parent positive leader remain poorly understood. Here we investigate their effects by combining high‐speed video with LF/VLF lightning channel mapping. Our results reveal that the approach of a bileader promotes needle‐like discharges from the lateral of parent channel, which act as connecting leaders. In eight out of nine side bileaders observed in two flashes, these connections significantly enhanced the luminosity of the positive leader channel on the trailing end from the connection point and formed a new positive branch. In one special case, the negative end of the side bileader propagated into high altitude (∼8 km) instead of connecting directly to the parent channel; its eventual connection increased the luminosity on the leading end of the parent channel and produced both new negative and positive branches. We propose a potential‐driven mechanism to explain these observations.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 53(18)
North China Electric Power University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), China Electric Power Research Institute, Eindhoven University of Technology (NL), Nanjing University (CN), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Openalex Percentile: Top 46%
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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