On the electrostatic field created at ground level by a halo

We investigate the effect of halo activity on the electrostatic field measured at ground level. We use electrostatic arguments as well as self‐consistent simulations to show that, due to the screening charge in the ionosphere, the distant electrostatic field created by the uncompensated charge in a thundercloud decays exponentially rather than as the third power of the distance. Furthermore, significative ionization around the lower edge of the ionosphere slightly reduces the electrostatic field at ground level. We conclude that halos do not extend the range of detectability of lightning‐induced electrostatic fields. Key Points Halos do not make a lightning QE field detectable further away QE field follows an exponential decay at long distances (>100 km) Self‐consistent model quantifies the variation of the QE field