Intracloud discharge and the correlated basic charge structure of a thunderstorm in Zhongchuan, a Chinese Inland Plateau region

The intracloud (IC) discharge is closely related to the charge structure of thunderstorms. The location, charge moment and polarity of intracloud discharges have been analyzed by using the electric field changes from a 7-site network of slow antennas synchronized by GPS with 1 μs time resolution in the area of Zhongchuan in the Chinese Inland Plateau. Ten IC flashes, from a storm on August 20, 2004, have been fitted by using the non-linear least-square solution. The results show that five IC flashes occurred between the main negative charge region and the lower positive charge region and other five between the main negative charge region and the upper positive charge region during the mature stage of the thunderstorm. The centers of discharge were 3.2–5.6 km and 6.8–7.7 km above sea level. The neutralized moments were about 4.56–61.0 C km and 1.06–15.9 C km. It suggests that the charge structure related to the lightning discharge can be represented by a tripole but with a strong positive charge region in the lower part of the thunderstorm, with the lower positive charge region taking an active role in the discharge.