Abstract:
Abstract—Luminosity variations of natural cloud
lightning channels were studied using high speed video
recordings in Sri Lanka in the tropic. Five cloud flashes
were selected for the study, which were recorded with
5000 fps with 512X512 pixel resolution. Luminosity
variation along channels and along selected channel
segment, duration of cloud activities was studied. It was
found that the average duration of selected flashes is
266.44 ms. No particular pattern was observed for the
luminosity variation along channel segments. However
the luminosity variation across the channel followed a
Gaussian distribution pattern. Pattern of the luminosity
variation along channels were compared with existing
models to understand the development process of cloud
flashes. Results show that it is hard to collaborate the
observation to a single process for cloud discharges.
