2010 Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, April 12 - 16, 2010, Beijing, China

A Case Study of the Temporal Context of Narrow

Bipolar Events with Ordinary Lightning
Fanchao Lv 1, Baoyou Zhu 1, Dong Ma 2, Ming Ma
＃ ＃ ＃ ＃3

＃
School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, China
1
lvfc@mail.ustc.edu.cn
1
zhuby@ustc.edu.cn
2
madong@mail.ustc.edu.cn
3
mingma@ustc.edu.cn

Abstract—From analysis of VLF/LF bandwidth electric
and magnetic fields and associated VHF emission of 245
NBE-related records during a thunderstorm, the temporal
context of NBEs with ordinary lightning discharges was
studied. Both negative and positive NBEs could occur in
the thunderstorm and -NBEs tended to occur at a much
higher altitude than +NBEs. 26 of 377 NBEs were
identified as isolated ones since the narrow bipolar pulse
was not followed or preceded by any detectable signals
within 100ms, while 169 were identified as CG-associated
NBEs since the narrow bipolar pulse was followed or
preceded by detectable return stroke pulse within 100ms,
and the other 182 were identified as IC-associated NBEs.
The IC-associated or CG-associated NBEs tend to occur
randomly with respect to normal lightning rather than
occurring ahead of them. We conclude that NBEs will be
produced under conditions which favor the production of
normal lightning discharges, but they are unnecessarily
related to the initiation of normal lightning discharges.
I. INTRODUCTION
Narrow Bipolar Events (NBEs) are known as classes of
special intra-cloud discharges that characterized by their
extremely strong VHF radiation and large amplitude but
short-duration bipolar electric field change pulse ([3], [9]).
Smith et al.([7]) termed this distinct type of discharge as
‘compact intracloud discharges (CIDs)’ and gave the location
of events, which occurred at altitude 8 ~ 11km MSL and
identified as in the close proximity to high reflectivity storm
cores, the same region where intra-cloud discharges began.
Rison et al. ([5]) used a GPS-based three-dimensional TOA
Lightning Mapping System located the sources of VHF
radiation from lightning discharges and reported that NBEs to
be the initial event of otherwise normal intracloud discharges
while Jacobson and Heaver ([2]) reported that NBEs neither
consistently precede nor consistently follow the centroid of
non-NBE occurrences and suggested that NBEs behave the
same as non-NBEs for deep convective-cloud structures. And
Sharma et al. ([6]) found that no subsequent activity up to
30ms for the +NBEs and they confirmed that no direct
relation could be established between theses pulse and any
other known activity. Recently, Nag and Rakov et al.([1])
reported NBEs(CIDs) occurred within CGs and ICs, and also
isolated ones which consist of the majority of NBEs(CIDs).
In this presentation, we will report the study on NBEs’
temporal context with ordinary lightning discharges.
II. DATA AND ANALYSIS
Observations were conducted in Shanghai (31.001ºN,
121.885ºE), East China from local time 18:14 to 20:43(UT
10:14-12:43) on 16 August 2004. Simultaneous electric field,
horizontal magnetic fields, and VHF emission were recorded
for each record. Both the vertical electric field and magnetic
fields were sensed with a bandwidth from 800Hz-400 kHz,
and a linear VHF receiver was used to sense the envelope of
VHF emission from 112.5 MHz to 117.5 MHz. These signals
were simultaneously digitized by a 12-bit digitizer at the rate
of 1 MHz with recording duration of 1s. The digitizer was
pre-triggered by the electric field. In this paper, the ‘‘physics’’
sign convention for atmospheric electricity is used, namely a
discharge between the upper positive charge and lower
negative charge produces a positive electric field change.
We identified NBEs from records mainly based on the VHF
signals. The VHF receiver was designed to receive VHF

978-1-4244-5623-9/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 1235

radiations from normal lightning discharges within 50 km +NBEs, in quite good agreement with Wiens et al. ([10]). It is
effectively, thus only the strongest VHF radiations from 200 also worth noting that both polarity of NBEs clustered well
km away can be detected. We recognize NBEs by the VHF either in temporal or in spatial distributions, which indicate
radiation and associated short-duration bipolar electric field that both polarity of NBEs trend towards taking place in a
pulse from the VLF/LF signals. Fig 1 illustrates an NBE’s similar environmental conditions. This indication is also
typical waveform from our database. The units of the ordinate consistent with the conclusion of Wiens et al.([10]) and
axis are the units of digitizer. Jacobson and Heaver([2]). However, it seems that -NBEs tend
to occur in the early time, and there exists no evident
N B E G ro u n d w a w e
2000
1000
Hops
correlation between the occurrence of +NBEs and -NBEs.
E

In order to get a better understand of the relationship

-1 0 0 0
20000
10000

between NBEs and non-NBEs, we make a statistical analysis

B1

0
-1 0 0 0 0

20000
10000
on temporal context of them. Because the records we detected
B2

0
-1 0 0 0 0 were from different cells, the VLF/LF magnetic fields were
30000
20000 used to eliminate the interferer from the other cell in order to
VHF

10000
0
0 .0 0 .1 0 .2 0 .3 0 .4 0 .5 0 .6 0 .7
ensure that the NBEs and normal lightning which associated
T im e ( m s )
with NBEs were from the same cell (direction finding). Here
Fig 1. The vertical electric field, two horizontal magnetic field components we describe the relationship between NBEs and normal
and VHF emission of a +NBE
lightning by classifying it into three classes, isolated NBE,
Overall 763 records were obtained during our observation, CG-associated NBE, and IC-associated NBE. When an NBE
but only 245 records were registered as NBEs-related records. pulse was not followed or preceded by any detectable
The total number of NBEs was 377, with 297 +NBEs and 80 lightning signals within 100ms, it was defined as an isolated
-NBEs. It is interesting to note that there were more than one one. Similarly, when an NBE pulse was followed or preceded
NBEs detected in a record. by a return stroke within 100ms, regardless of the possible
The range and height of each NBE were determined from intra-cloud signals, it was termed as a CG-associated one. If
the time interval between the source pulse and its two delayed an NBE neither belongs to the isolated type nor belongs to the
reflections following the method introduced by Smith et al. CG-associated type, it was classified as the IC-associated one.
([7]), with an assumed ionosphere height. The ionosphere Fig 3, 4 and 5 show the NBEs associated with CGs and ICs.
height was assumed to be 70Km at this period of time. The result of the statistical analysis is shown in TableⅠ.
15 Positive N BEs
According to the analysis, of the total 377 NBEs, there are 26
14 N egative N BEs
13
12
(6.90%) of isolated events, while the events associate with
Height(Km)

11
10
9
normal lightning (CG or ICs) constitute 93.1% of the total
8
7
6
NBEs. Among 182 IC-associated NBEs, 44 cases (39 +NBEs
5
18.25 18.50 18.75 19.00 19.25 19.50 19.75 20.00 20.25 20.50 20.75 and 5 -NBEs) occurred at the beginning of the discharges,
300
280
260 while the amount of the NBEs occurring before the first return
Range(Km)

240
220
200 stroke was 42(24.85% of the CG-Associated ones). Nag and
180
160
140
Rakov et al.([1]) also give a distribution of NBEs (CIDs)
120
18.25 18.50 18.75 19.00 19.25 19.50 19.75 20.00 20.25 20.50 20.75 occurred with normal lightning, but they found about 18%
Tim e(H our)
were associated with “normal” cloud flashes and 6% with
Fig 2. The range and height distributions of NBEs with occurrence time  
ground ones, and the majority (72%) of CIDs appeared to
Fig 2 gives the range and height distributions of NBEs with occur in isolation from any other lightning process. And we
occurrence time. It can be seen that these NBEs tended to can’t explain the 12 cases of -NBEs occurring before the first
cluster in different separated cells, with both polarity of NBEs negative return stroke, since -NBEs occurred at an altitude of
from each cell. -NBEs occurred at a higher altitude than

1236
11~15km, which is much higher than the breakdown height of 265 cases which occurred during the normal lightning process.
normal negative CGs ([4]). So we could conclude that NBEs neither consistently precede
Table Ⅰ nor consistently follow the normal lightning discharges. They
The number and percentage of three classes of NBEs seemed to occur randomly during the lightning discharges.
We are not sure whether 26 cases of isolated NBEs
Number Percentage
Type occurred associated with much weaker intra-cloud discharges.
Isolated 26 6.90% However the fact that almost 93% of NBEs associated with
CG-associated 169 44.82% normal lightning discharges, possibly indicates that NBEs will
IC-associated 182 48.28% produce under special conditions inside a thunderstorm which
will favor production of normal lightning discharges. To note
3000
2000 NBE
that Rison et al.([5]) concluded that bipolar breakdown events
F irs t R S
1000
E

0 are the initial events of otherwise normal intracloud discharge.

20000
15000
10000
But the random occurrence nature of NBEs in this study
5000
B1

0
-5 0 0 0
-1 0 0 0 0 indicates that NBEs are unnecessarily related to the initiation
20000
15000
10000
5000
of normal lightning discharges.
B2

0
-5 0 0 0
-1 0 0 0 0
In order to give a better understand of the thunderstorm
40000
30000
circumstances, we make a simple description of the storm by
VHF

20000
10000
0
254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 using TRMM’s Global-merged IR Brightness Temperature
T im e (m s )
Data and the radar reflectivity data obtained from AnHui
Fig 3. The NBE occurred before the CG first return stroke Meteorological Bureau.
Fig 6 gives the location of NBEs during the period of 19:25
to 19:35(LT) with the IR cloud top temperature at the time of
19:30(LT). 56 NBEs detected during this period, including 4
–NBEs and 52 +NBEs. Most of the NBEs occurred within the
scope of below -66℃(207K), which can be recognized as the
storm cores. It is obviously that both +NBEs and –NBEs are
clustered very well in the two regions marked as A and B.

Fig 4. The NBE occurred within CG return strokes

Fig 6. The IR cloud top temperature of the thunderstorm at 19:30(LT) with

the location of NBEs during 19:25 ~ 19:35(LT)

Fig 5. The NBE occurred within ICs

Fig 7 gives the radar reflectivity of the storm (0.5° elevation
angle), at the time of 19:33(LT), “*”at the lower right corner
If we paid close attention to the relationship of NBEs and
represents our observation station. The two cores are marked
non-NBE discharges, we would find that 86 cases (22.81% of
as A and B recognized as the same regions signed in Fig 6.
the total NBEs) occurred before the normal lightning, leaving

1237
Both regions are at the height of 11Km with maximum radar
reflectivity of 55~58dBz. From another elevation angle of
1.5°, the maximum reflectivity of region A is 35~38dBz at the
height of 16.9Km and region B is 45~48dBz at 16.9Km.
Region C whose maximum reflectivity is 50~53dBz at the
height of 11.6Km is the third core which a few NBEs occur.
Fig 7. The radar reflectivity of the storm
From the IR cloud top temperature the radar reflectivity of
the thunderstorm, we can see that the NBEs probably occur at
the region whose IR cloud top temperature lower than -66 ℃
and nearly the highest radar reflectivity. This can give a good
validation of Smith’s conclusion that NPBPs appear to occur
only in close proximity to thunderstorm cores. ([7])
III. CONCLUSIONS
We summarize our results as follows:
z Both negative and positive NBEs could occur during
the thunderstorms lightning discharges. The amount
of positive NBEs is overwhelming larger than that of
negative ones and in general negative NBEs
occurred at a much higher altitude than positive
NBEs, which confirms the results of previous study.
z 93% of NBEs are in close relation to normal
lightning discharges, possibly indicating that NBEs
will produce under conditions which will favor the
production of normal lightning discharges.
z NBEs tended to occur randomly with respect to
normal lightning discharges. In other words, NBEs
did not show a strong tendency to occur at the
beginning of normal CG or IC lightning discharges.
We conclude that NBEs are unnecessarily related to
the initiation of normal lightning discharges.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
1238
The authors would like to acknowledge the joint support of
Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of
Sciences under grant KZCX2-YW-206 and National Nature
Science Foundation of China under grant 40775003. And also
would like to acknowledge NASA to provide the TRMM
Ancillary data products and AnHui Meteorological Bureau
with the radar reflectivity data products.
REFERENCES
[1] A. Nag, V.A. Rakov, and D. Tsalikis, New Experimental Data on
Lightning Events Producing Intense VHF Radiation Bursts, Eos Trans.
AGU, 89(53), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract AE11A-0292,
[2] Jacobson, A. R., and M. J. Heavner (2005), Comparison of narrow
biplolar events with normal lightning as proxies for severe convection,
Mon.Weather Rev., 133, 1144– 1154.
[3] LeVine, D. M. (1980), Source of the strongest RF radiation from
lightning, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 4091–4095.
[4] Rhodes C T,X M Shao,P R Krehbiel et al.Observations of lighting
phenomena using radio interferometry. J. Geophys. Res.,1994,99
(D6):13059-13082
[5] Rison, W., R. J. Thomas, P. R. Krehbiel, T. Hamlin, and J. Harlin (1999),
A GPS-based three-dimensional lightning mapping system: Initial
observations in central New Mexico, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26(23), 3573–
3576.
[6] S.R.Sharma, M.Fernando, Vernon Cooray (2008), Narrow positive
bipolar radiation from lightning observed in Sri Lanka, Journal of
Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 70, 1251-1260,
dio:10.1016/j.jastp.2008.03.002
[7] Smith, D. A., X. M. Shao, D. N. Holden, C. T. Rhodes, M. Brook, P. R.
Krehbiel, M. Stanley, W. Rison, and R. J. Thomas (1999), A distinct
class of isolated intracloud lightning discharges and their associated radio
emissions, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 4189– 4212.
[8] Smith, D. A., M. J. Heavner, A. R. Jacobson, X. M. Shao, R. S. Massey,
R. J. Sheldon, and K. C. Wiens (2004), A method for determining
intracloud lightning and ionospheric heights from VLF/LF electric field
records, Radio Sci., 39, RS1010, doi:10.1029/2002RS002790.
[9] Willett, J. C., J. C. Bailey, and E. P. Krider (1989), A class of unusual
lightning electric field waveforms with very strong high-frequency
radiation, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 16,255– 16,267.
[10] Wiens, K. C., T. Hamlin, J. Harlin, and D. M. Suszcynsky (2008),
Relationships among Narrow Bipolar Events, ‘‘total’’ lightning, and
radar-inferred convective strength in Great Plains thunderstorms, J.
Geophys. Res., 113, D05201, doi:10.1029/2007JD009400.