Peak Currents of Return Strokes Observed in the Chinese Inland Areas by Ningxia FALMA

We have studied the currents of return strokes (RS) observed in the Chinese inland areas by a low-frequency multi-station mapping system called Ningxia Fast Antenna Lightning Mapping Array (FALMA). The RS currents are estimated through the peak-to-current conversion coefficients which are based the time-matching with a modest number of RS from the calibrated lightning location system. The statistical results show that the arithmetic means of positive and negative RS currents are 31.5 and 22.8 kA, respectively. In our dataset, the positive RS with currents below 10 kA is up to 27% indicating that small positive discharge pulses should be taken into account seriously. Overall speaking, compared to the previously reported results, the RS in the Chinese inland areas tend to show some significant differences. We will further study the possible reasons for attributing to such differences in the future.