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The location of lightning affecting the ionospheric sporadic‐E layer as evidence for multiple enhancement mechanisms
Author(s) -
Johnson C. G.,
Davis C. J.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2005gl025294
Subject(s) - ionosphere , lightning (connector) , upper atmospheric lightning , meteorology , sporadic e propagation , geology , lightning detection , lightning strike , remote sensing , geophysics , thunderstorm , geography , physics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
We present a study of the geographic location of lightning affecting the ionospheric sporadic‐E (Es) layer over the ionospheric monitoring station at Chilton, UK. Data from the UK Met Office's Arrival Time Difference (ATD) lightning detection system were used to locate lightning strokes in the vicinity of the ionospheric monitoring station. A superposed epoch study of this data has previously revealed an enhancement in the Es layer caused by lightning within 200km of Chilton. In the current paper, we use the same data to investigate the location of the lightning strokes which have the largest effect on the Es layer above Chilton. We find that there are several locations where the effect of lightning on the ionosphere is most significant statistically, each producing different ionospheric responses. We interpret this as evidence that there is more than one mechanism combining to produce the previously observed enhancement in the ionosphere.