Item

Abstract

The charge distribution within the horizontal charge region plays a crucial role during the extension of the lightning channel. At present, it is still difficult to directly observe the charge structure of thunderstorm clouds, especially the horizontal charge structure. Therefore, there is currently a lack of understanding of how lightning channel morphology reveals lightning channel developmental characteristics and charge structure. Based on the lightning mapping array radiation source localization data of six lightning flashes, we studied the lightning channel morphology characterization method and obtained the spatial distribution of the fractal dimension (FD). The relationship between the lightning channel morphology, developmental characteristics, and charge structure was investigated for the first time. It is found that, compared to regions with unidirectional extended channels, regions with more channel branches or direction change of channel development have a larger FD and a higher power density, where horizontal channel development is accelerated. These correspondence features reflect the inhomogeneous presence of pocket charge, which provides a new method to use lightning morphology information to reveal the characteristics of charge level distribution within thunderstorm clouds.