Three Flights Into Thunderstorms with the Revised Rocket Electric Field Sounding (REFS) Payload
Abstract
Three sounding rockets were launched into thunderstorms from the Langmuir Laboratory in New Mexico during July, 1992, to measure profiles of the ambient vector electrostatic field. The eight individual, shutter field mills on each of these rockets had a nominal full-scale range of +/-900 kV/m and sensitivity of 225 V/m. The electric-field soundings passed several self- consistency tests and were corroborated by measurements from the surface and from both tethered and free balloons. Mill noise levels of less than 450 V/m, as well as other error sources, yielded a relative uncertainty of the measured ambient field components less than 1 kV/m flight. Absolute calibrations of both the longitudinal and the transverse field components (relative to the rocket axis of symmetry) were accurate to +/-10% or better. Field magnitudes greater than 8OkV/m and electrostatic potential magnitudes over 120 MV were encountered inside the storms. The average field driving one natural cloud-to-ground lightning flash was estimated at 30 kV/m or less. Grounded triggering rockets were launched immediately after each sounding rocket, but no lightning was triggered, suggesting that ambient fields of 10 kV/m over the lowest 500 m were not sufficient to trigger lightning with the rocket-and-wire technique. Lightning, Field mills, Triggered lightning, Rocket, Electric fields.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 10, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA280424
Entities
People
- D. C. Curtis
- G. Y. Jumper
- J. C. Willett
- W. F. Thorn
Organizations
- Phillips Laboratory