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Multi‐color photometric measurements of ionization and energies in sprites
Author(s) -
Armstrong R. A.,
Suszcynsky D. M.,
Lyons W. A.,
Nelson T. E.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1029/1999gl003672
Subject(s) - sprite (computer graphics) , ionization , physics , light emission , observable , astrophysics , optics , ion , computer science , quantum mechanics , computer vision
Recent time‐resolved multi‐color photometric data obtained on one class of lightning‐related transient upper‐atmospheric electromagnetic events called sprites have confirmed an impulsive ionization emission during the sprite initiation. Data have also been obtained on some sprites which do not exhibit observable tendrils and which exhibit ionization emission that, if present, is below our detection limit. This suggests that some sprite events exhibit strong ionization while others do not. These results indicate that conditions causing sprite optical emissions are highly variable.