Common physical processes in natural and triggered lightning in winter storms in Japan

An analysis of measurements of electric, magnetic, and radiation field variations produced by rocket‐triggered discharges in winter storms in Japan shows that a discharge initiated by a rocket with trailing and grounded wire is a negative leader that consists of continuous current and a pulse series associated with streamer development at the tip. The negative leader is not followed by a process analogous to a return stroke in cloud‐to‐ground flashes. Application of the electrostatic model of lightning as a bidirectional and uncharged leader in an ambient electric field to analysis of rocket‐initiated discharges and positive cloud‐to‐ground flashes uncovers the commonality of processes occurring in both types of discharges.