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DEMETER satellite observations of lightning‐induced electron precipitation
Author(s) -
Inan U. S.,
Piddyachiy D.,
Peter W. B.,
Sauvaud J. A.,
Parrot M.
Publication year - 2007
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 - 10.1029/2006gl029238
Subject(s) - whistler , lightning (connector) , thunderstorm , electron precipitation , precipitation , satellite , ionosphere , northern hemisphere , electron , geophysics , physics , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geology , astronomy , magnetosphere , magnetic field , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
DEMETER spacecraft detects short bursts of lightning‐induced electron precipitation (LEP) simultaneously with newly‐injected upgoing whistlers, and sometimes also with once‐reflected (from conjugate hemisphere) whistlers. For the first time causative lightning discharges are definitively geo‐located for some LEP bursts aboard a satellite. The LEP bursts occur within <1 s of the causative lightning and consist of 100–300 keV electrons. First in‐situ observations of large regions of enhanced background precipitation are presented. The regions are apparently produced and maintained by high rate of lightning within a localized thunderstorm.