Initiation and propagation of cloud-to-ground lightning observed with a high-speed video camera

Complete evolution of a lightning discharge, from its initiation at an altitude of about 4 km to its ground attachment, was optically observed for the first time at the Lightning Observatory in Gainesville, Florida. The discharge developed during the late stage of a cloud flash and was initiated in a decayed branch of the latter. The initial channel section was intermittently illuminated for over 100 ms, until a bidirectionally extending channel (leader) was formed. During the bidirectional leader extension, the negative end exhibited optical and radio-frequency electromagnetic features expected for negative cloud-to-ground strokes developing in virgin air, while the positive end most of the time appeared to be inactive or showed intermittent channel luminosity enhancements. The development of positive end involved an abrupt creation of a 1-km long, relatively straight branch with a streamer corona burst at its far end. This 1-km jump appeared to occur in virgin air at a remarkably high effective speed of the order of 10⁶ m/s. The positive end of the bidirectional leader connected to another bidirectional leader to form a larger bidirectional leader, whose negative end attached to the ground and produced a 36-kA return stroke.