Stratospheric Observations of Corona Current from Loon’s Superpressure Balloons

Abstract

Loon LLC collected 794 000 h of corona current observations between 15 and ∼20 km above sea level with time resolution between 1 and 30 min. We are publicly releasing this dataset to enable the research community’s understanding of electrical activity in the stratosphere. We validate the reliability of these measurements by aligning our flight data with both nearby Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) events and the Convective Diagnostic Oceanic (CDO) indicator. Corona current observations that exceeded the sensor maximum of 10