This three-year research program aims to better understand the thunderstorm electrification processes. The project will examine the types of lightning discharges, their evolution and their relationships to precipitation echos in thunderstorms. The main sources of data come from two field programs: one conducted near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida during 1976-78 and the other near the Langmuir Laboratory in New Mexico in 1984. Thunderstorms play an important role in the global electrical circuit; however, our knowledge of the thunderstorm electrification is rather limited. This research will provide much needed information on the electrical structure of thunderstorms.
