Primary Convener:
Caitano da Silva, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Convener:
Julia Tilles, Sandia National Laboratories
Adonis Leal, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Chair:
Julia Tilles, Sandia National Laboratories
Adonis Leal, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Caitano da Silva, New Mexico Tech

Lightning is comprised of a variety of processes over a multitude of scales including the initial breakdown stage, fast streamer-based breakdown, leader steps, streamer zones, space stems and space leaders, needles, recoil leaders, return strokes, and M components. Lightning channels promote energy exchange between plasma and surrounding environment generating a plethora of impacts in the atmosphere and to society. In recent years, substantial instrumentation advances have been made in optical, radio-frequency, and energetic radiation imaging of the lightning channels' initiation, propagation, and attachment to ground structures, as well as the return stroke and the subsequent processes taking place inside its decaying channels. Additionally, during the next decade the field should see an explosive growth in the development and use of computational models of lightning and its multi-spectral emissions. We seek abstracts on natural and laboratory observations, modeling, and theoretical efforts dedicated to advancing our community’s understanding of lightning physics.

Index Terms
3304 Atmospheric electricity
3324 Lightning
0654 Plasmas
1952 Modeling

Neighborhoods:
4. Beyond Earth