European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Scientists Hope to forecast lightning strikes by Walter Sullivan new York times ires trailed by rockets to trigger lightning flashes cables Between mountains to create upside Down Hun warheads computer linked networks of observatories and other devices Are helping scientists learn what energizes lightning and controls where it hits and How much damage it does. They Hope a better understanding of lightning will enable them to forecast where it will strike with enough accuracy to reroute aircraft and choose the Best times for spacecraft launching Golf tournaments and other events. Recent observations have cast doubt on some of the most widely accepted theories of lightning formation while it has Long been known that lightning usually occurs when Strong negative electric charge accumulates in the lower part of a thunderhead none of the theories to explain such accumulation has yet won general acceptance according to one group of theories the electric charge is in some Way generated in the heart of the storm by falling raindrops or ice particles. In one version some of the gravitational Energy of precipitation is converted into electrical Energy. Other theories emphasize the role of violent up drafts in transporting electric charge. But or. Earle r. Williams of the Massachusetts Institute of technology questions those competing theories and is focusing instead on the behaviour of ice particles within the storm Cloud As critical to lightning formation according to the Well established picture of a thunderhead s dynamics its Core of rapidly rising warm air pushes Cloud turrets up from its Summit. Moisture in the rising air condenses into ice crystals or rain. The air cooled As it rears the top Falls Back around edges of the Cloud creating the Cool blast of air that radiates from the base of the storm. Williams notes that a number of recent observations suggest that the Region of Strong negative charge from which lightning originates is normally in a part of the Cloud so cold that droplets there must be Frozen. He believes the answer to lightning formation must therefore lie in the special properties of ice particles. Williams says two Basic questions must be resolved what makes some ice particles in the storm negative and others positive and what segregates the negative particles at the Bottom of the Cloud and the positive ones at the top in an interview As Well As in the journal of geophysical research Williams cited a growing belief that larger ice particles hailstones and granular Snow pellets become negatively charged by picking up electrons in collisions with ice crystals Riding an up draft. These crystals lose electrons thus becoming positively charged As they Are carried to the top of the Cloud. The falling heavier particles carry their negative charge to the Bottom of the Cloud. Goduto sky current cum Nucy Canon Poa Luvelt current to compe Nute for Thene Gatlos Courgi carried to Earth by worldwide Mph Nln activity there la a global return cur rant of Post la charge from fair weather Niklai.   of curl it town of act Wahi Clouds cumulate near Cloud lop and negative one near Bottom. Up drafts in a thunderhead can reach 100 Miles an hour. Acoustic signals and radio emissions in Florida have shown that Cloud to ground lightning comes almost exclusively from the Region of intense up drafts whereas rain Falls primarily from the downdrafts Region. Only about 10 percent of lightning strokes however Are to the ground. The rest Are within the Cloud or Between Clouds. Williams says one problem with lightning theories that focus on vertical motion whether up draft or downdrafts is evidence that while negative charge accumulates in the lower part of a thunderhead it can do so in discrete layers a few thousand feet thick Only 10 to 20 percent of the total Cloud height. This implies formation of the layer by some local process rather than a Large scale up draft or downdrafts that would produce a far deeper area of negative charge furthermore Williams Points out lightning is often most intense where up drafts Are weak on the Back Side of an advancing Squall line. The largest transfers of electric charge have been recorded in japanese snowstorms with Strong horizontal winds and weak vertical motion. Bernard Vonnegut of the state University of new York at Albany has Long championed the View that the positive charge in the tops of storm Clouds derives from particles of air and dust that acquired such a charge no Yort to to Hilt lion while near the positively charged Earth and then were swept up into the storm. It has Long been known that lightning transfers a negative charge to the Earth leaving the entire upper atmosphere with a positive charge having a potential of several Hundred thousand volts. In fair weather the positive charge slowly flows to Earth. According to the Vonnegut theory accumulation of a positive charge near the Crown of the storm would attract negative particles which accumulate at the outer edges. There descending air would carry them Down. This would explain the accumulation of a negative charge near the Cloud base from which lightning originates. To test this hypothesis Vonnegut s longtime associate Charles b Moore of the new Mexico Institute of mining and technology in Socorro has been creating upside Down thunderstorms by altering the electric properties of air being drawn into them. In experiments by the Langmuir Laboratory in the Magdalena mountains near Socorro during the last two Summers a powerful current was driven through a mile Long Cable Strung across a Canyon Between summits creating a negative charge in the surrounding air. Storm Clouds fed by air from near the Cable became negative on top and positive on the Bottom and delivered positively charged lightning to the ground Erma Bombeck w e have All come to appreciate the hazards of playing sports. The knee that have been tackled once too often. The Teeth that have stopped to Many hockey pucks. The tendons that have been worked to death in too Many marathons. But Here s a new wrinkle. The new England journal of Medicine has revealed that watching sports May be hazardous to your health. Case in Point a bartender who watched three games nonstop last year on new year s Day. He moved Only Tor refreshments. The Day after the game he developed Sharp Chest pains and shortness of breath. Diagnosis too much inactivity. The problem is most people Are not in shape to relax that much. Especially after a Long summer in which they watch a few Tennis matches and an occasional Bowling for dollars. They think they can just plop Down into a chair turn comatose and Start watching weekend football without any ill effects. I offer today the Erma Bombeck prime time Spectator aerobics program that promises to make you fit for sports viewing before the season officially starts sept. 7. First the warm up. Standing in the Middle of the Moor turn your neck slowly to the right. All the Way to where the screens need to be replaced by storm windows before october. Now Pivot your neck around to the left far enough to see the Burnt out porch Light and the Trees that need fertilizing. Does t that feel Good next try to touch the floor that needs sanding with your fingers. And finally stretch and reach extending your Waist All the Way Over the pipes under the sink thai Are leaking. Now for the arms. Grab a stack of papers from the top of the basement stairs and balancing them make Small circles As you head toward the garage. That s it make it Burn. While you re in the garage work the shoulder Muscles by heaving some of that insulation saturday August 16, 1986 into the attic that has been sitting around for three years. You re ready for aerobics. Start slowly running in place and then try to outrun your children who want to be car pooled to the playground. Be careful of the furniture. Run past the bathroom where the toilet needs to be reseated the bedroom that needs painting and through the front door where the Bell no longer works about eight minutes should increase your heart rate. For the Cool Down sit on the floor with legs outstretched and Bend Over one knee. You should be at Eye level with your wife who is painting the baseboards. Next lie on your Back and tighten every muscle in your body. The buttocks the Pelvic the arms and the legs. Now relax. Clear your mind of the dog that wants to be let out the phone ringing Oft the Hook and the timer on the oven. Feel better i Hope so. We women Only want our men to be healthy and enjoy the season. C 19m. To Angmon ten synd Cala the stars and stripes Page 17