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An electric field change sensor is an electronic device that detects charge build up on a metal plate that occurs as a result of charge development within thunderstorm systems. Typical atmospheric electrical properties are quantified by electric field mills that, with a rotating shield, expose a sensor plate to atmosphere in increments as short as one-tenth of a second to measure the amount of charge build up on the plate. Since the average lighting...
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Sprites can be described as upper-atmospheric electrical-breakdown phenomena. It is an idea that spans a century. An early theory of this process was developed by a Nobel prize-winning physicist C. T. R. Wilson. While describing the electric field of a thundercloud (Wilson 1926), Wilson claimed that the electric field that creates lightning in lower-altitude thunderstorms, quite possibly triggers an electrical breakdown in the upper-atmospheric region...