Abstract:
Characteristics of measured electric and magnetic fields generated by leaders and
return strokes in lightning cloud-to-ground discharges are reviewed. The very close
(within tens to hundreds of meters) lightning electromagnetic environment is
discussed. Typical field waveforms at distances ranging from 10 m to 200 km are
shown. Modeling of lightning return strokes as sources of electromagnetic fields is
reviewed. Four classes of models, defined on the basis of the type of governing
equations, are considered. These four classes are: 1) gas-dynamic models, 2)
electromagnetic models, 3) distributed-circuit models, and 4) engineering models.
Model-predicted fields are compared with measurements.