Winter lightning on Japan Sea coast-development of measuring system on progressing feature of lightning discharge

With the aid of recent optoelectronic techniques, the authors have developed a measuring instrument named ALPS (Automatic Lightning Discharge Progressing Feature Observation System) to determine the progress of lightning flashes. The progress velocities of stepped leaders for lightning in winter seasons were observed using the ALPS in the coastal area of the Japan Sea. The progress velocity of an individual step of a stepped leader can be expressed by a lognormal distribution and its mean value is 1.6*10/sup 6/ m/s for upward leaders and 4.0*10/sup 6/ m/s for downward leaders. The mean progress velocity of a total leader process is given as 0.8 approximately 2.7*10/sup 5/ m/s for upward leaders and 2.9*10/sup 5/ m/s for downward leaders.>