Progresses in the Atmospheric Electricity Researches in China during 2006--2010

Atmospheric electricity is composed of a wide range of electric phenomena in the troposphere, stratosphere, and even lower ionosphere. Research progress on atmospheric electricity in the past 5 years in China are briefly reviewed here. This research area has been greatly expanded through rocket-triggered lightning experiments and the increased use of high spatio-temporal resolution techniques for the detection and location of lightning. The main results described in this review are summarized in the following five aspects: (1) processes and parameters inferred from rocket-triggered lightning, (2) lightning physics and effects (observations and theoretical study), (3) lightning activities associated with different thunderstorms, (4) charge structure of thunderstorms (observations and simulation), and (5) the VHF/UHF lightning location techniques and discharge channel mapping.