Resumen de Investigación de las estructuras eléctricas y líderes de rayos en tormentas. Aportaciones a las condiciones de inicio de rayos gamma terrestres
This thesis presents a characterization of the charge structures of thunderstorms and lightning leader development, and their relationship with the emissions of terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs). The results include a detailed view of thundercloud charge distributions, their altitude range and life cycle evolution. The altitude of charge centers and the identification of complex charge structures have also been included.
Additionally, the developments of the lightning leaders, their altitudes of initiation, polarities, and spatial and temporal characteristics across different seasons are studied by analyzing the lightning leader signature from a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA), which was installed also for the first time in the tropics during this work.
According to the characterization of charge structures, a lightning leader model is developed. The main goal of the model is to analyze the potential and the electric field stress expected during lightning discharge simulations. In addition, simulations about TGF emissions obtained from particle interactions have been included. In this case, the LEPTRACK program is used along with the main results of the leader model in order to analyze the electrical conditions favorable for TGF production.
Finally, an overview of the experimental and field work carried out during this thesis is summarized. Ali the specialized instruments for lightning and thunderstorm measurements installed in the Colombia are detailed as well.
The organization of this thesis is as follows: Chapter 1 contains the introduction addressing the state of the art of the main topic. Chapter 2 describes all the fieldwork undertaken during this thesis. Chapter 3 includes the content of the papers used for this thesis, and summarizes the main results and the conclusions of them. Chapter 4 shows the developed lightning leader model and the main results of the TGF simulations. Finally, chapter 5 presents the overall conclusions and forthcoming work.
