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Submillisecond resolution lightning currents and sprite development: Observations and implications
Author(s) -
Cummer Steven A.,
Stanley Mark
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl003635
Subject(s) - sprite (computer graphics) , ionosphere , meteorology , upper atmospheric lightning , geology , physics , atmospheric sciences , geodesy , remote sensing , thunderstorm , geophysics , lightning strike , computer science , computer vision
We analyze synchronized high speed video images and ELF‐VLF radio emissions from 11 sprite clusters observed on 6 October 1997. Quantitative analysis shows that vertical lightning charge moment changes of 150–1100 C · km occurred before the optical emissions reached their peak with delays of 2–11 ms from the lightning discharge. This threshold unexpectedly decreases with increasing delay from parent lightning to peak emissions. We also find that sprite charge moment change and minimum sprite altitude are not well correlated with the vertical charge moment change in the parent discharge. These observations do not agree well with present sprite generation models, and we suggest that streamer development and horizontal lightning charge motion can play a significant role in sprite generation.