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Implications of Multiple Corona Bursts in Lightning Processes for Radio Frequency Interferometer Observations
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  • Ningyu Liu,
  • Olaf Scholten,
  • Joseph R Dwyer,
  • Brian Hare,
  • Chris Francis Sterpka,
  • Julia Tilles,
  • Frank D Lind
Ningyu Liu
The University of New Hampshire

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Olaf Scholten
University of Groningen
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Joseph R Dwyer
University of New Hampshire
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Brian Hare
University of Groningen
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Chris Francis Sterpka
University of New Hampshire
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Julia Tilles
Sandia National Laboratories
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Frank D Lind
MIT
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Abstract

Recent observations from LOFAR indicate that multiple, spatially distributed corona bursts can occur in lightning processes on the order of 10 microseconds. The close proximity of the corona bursts in space and time poses a great observation challenge for dedicated lightning radio interferometers, typically with $<$100 m baselines. This paper reports simulations to show the interferometry results that would be obtained with a typical lightning interferometer for such a lightning process. In particular, spatially-separated corona bursts at fixed locations may be seen as a fast ($>10^7$ m/s) propagating source for an instrument with resolution greater than the spatial separation of the bursts. The implications and suggestions for lightning interferometry studies are discussed in the paper.
16 Apr 2022Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 49 issue 7. 10.1029/2021GL097367