Leader Characteristics in Natural and Altitude Triggered Lightning Discharges

Characteristics of the electric field changes produced by stepped and dart-stepped leaders in natural negative cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning discharges and stepped leaders in altitude triggered lightning discharges have been analyzed by using data from broadband slow antenna system with 0.08 μs time resolution in Guangzhou area, Southeastern China. It has been found that the characteristic parameters of leader pulses in artificially triggered lightning discharges are a little different from that in natural negative lightning discharges, although the discharge processes and statistic features of the pulses are similar in two cases.