Lightning Electromagnetics

Lightning research is an interdisciplinary subject where several branches of engineering and physics converge. Lightning Electromagnetics is a book that caters for the needs of both physicists and engineers. It provides: The physicist with information on how to simulate: the charge generation in thunderclouds, different discharge processes in air that ultimately lead to a lightning flash, and the mechanism through which energetic radiation in the form of X-rays and Gamma rays are produced by lightning flashes; The power engineer with several numerical tools to study the interaction of lightning flashes with power transmission and distribution systems; The telecommunication engineer with numerical procedures with which to calculate the electromagnetic fields generated by lightning flashes and their interactions with overhead and underground telecommunication systems; The electromagnetic specialist with the basic theory necessary to simulate the propagation of lightning electromagnetic fields over the surface of the Earth; The atmospheric scientist with numerical procedures to quantify interactions between lightning flashes and the Earth's atmosphere, including the production of NOx by lightning flashes occurring in the atmosphere. This book also contains a chapter on the stimulation of visual phenomena in humans by electromagnetic fields of lightning flashes, which is essential reading for those who are interested in ball lightning.

Vernon Cooray is a leading professor of lightning research at Uppsala University. He has published more than 270 scientific articles on lightning and electrical discharges. Two other books edited by him on this subject, The Lightning Flash and Lightning Protection, were published in 2003 and 2009, respectively, by the IET, London.