Screening effects on branched upward leaders

A qualitative model of a branched, positive upward leader is discussed that explains observations of the current cutoff of base current before the end of leader structure development and the fast recovery of nearby electric fields. Screening of cloud electric fields by branching is a powerful mechanism to influence branch cutoffs a well as the birth of recoil leaders on old dead channels. The analysis is based on well established physics principles of leader behavior in thunderstorms like the theory of Kasemir [2] on leader charge relation to environmental potential and [3] the formation of static charges by the streamer process.