[TowerTalk] lightning & trees

[Jim Lux]

----- Original Message -----
From: "doc" <kd4e at verizon.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] lightning & trees


> > Jim Lux wrote:
>
> Seriously, it is interesting to postulate that a subtle ripple in the
> atmosphere of the earth from an event millions of miles away on the
> surface of the sun might be responsible for the streamer that draws the
> lightning strike that kills a professor on the campus of USF, a mother
> standing in her yard, or destroys a home.

Called the "butterfly effect"

>
> > Measuring breakdowns in a lab environment, one uses an external source
of
> > ionization (i.e. short UV or radioactive source) to reduce the
variability.
>
> So we postulate that the variables are too subtle and the potential
> area of streamer activity too broad to successfully predict any
> specific area of strikes?
>
> What about mitigation via creating an area where those subtle
> disturbances are neutralized as they occur for the purpose of
> protecting a specific site?

Relatively little lightning strikes inside a mineshaft... Shielding is
tougher than you think...

>
> We do know what the nature of the environment must be in order
> for streamers to be created, or to at least survive for long,
> should we not then be able to prevent or neutralize them as
> they begin to form?

Might be tricky to do on a scale that is "useful"..