PLASMA OF THE LIGHTNING CONDUCTING CHANNEL AT THE STAGE OF SMALL CURRENTS

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Abstract

The nature of lightning plasma evolution at the low-current stage in the interval between a stepped leader and a return stroke or between a return stroke and a dart leader of the next lightning flash is analyzed. It is shown that a typical time to establish the equilibria in the plasma under consideration is small compared to a typical time of slow stages of lightning. Therefore, a local thermodynamic equilibrium is established in the plasma of the conductive channel at a slow stage of its electrons, and the temperature of electrons and atoms is identical. According to the gas dynamic model, a typical time of plasma relaxation after a return stroke of the order of 1 ms is small compared to the duration of the slow stage (about 50 ms), so that an external electric field is required to maintain the plasma at a slow stage, which creates a weak electric current which stabilizes the plasma of the conductive channel. Taking into account the results of numerical models for the relaxation of the plasma of a return stroke, the parameters of heat transfer are determined, which are related to the thermal conductivity of the plasma inside the conductive channel, mainly due to the transfer of dissociative energy and thermal conductivity of electrons. At the boundary of the lightning conducting channel, heat transfer occurs as a result of the convection of surrounding air, which leads to the formation of tongues and vortices, the size of which is about 10 cm. As a result, the total renew of hot air of the conductive channel with cold air proceeds due to convection at the temperature of 7 kK during about 40 ms.

About the authors

B. M Smirnov

Joint Institute for High temperatures of RAS

Email: bmsmirnov@gmail.com
Moscow, Russia

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