Wave form, energy and reflexion by the ionosphere, of atmospherics

The Society has published a number of papers on various aspects of lightning, including those of C. T. R. Wilson on changes in the earth’s electric field; Appleton, Watt and Herd’s observations of a similar kind but at a greater distance from the discharge, and Schonland and others’ interpretation of photographs of lightning. References to these and other investigations are given by Appleton and Chapman (1937) and Schonland (1938). The evidence that lightning is the source of atmospherics has been considered by one of the authors (Laby 1936), and Goodlet (1937) has reviewed the conclusions reached in the study of the effect of lightning on power transmission lines. Observations on the wave form of atmospherics by physicists of the Radio Research Board of Australia and others were begun in this laboratory at the end of 1935, and evidence that atmospherics are reflected at the ionosphere was later obtained (Laby, Nicholls, Nickson and Webster 1937).