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Observations of Red Sprites Above Hurricane Matthew
Author(s) -
Huang Anjing,
Lu Gaopeng,
Yue Jia,
Lyons Walter,
Lucena Frankie,
Lyu Fanchao,
Cummer Steven A.,
Zhang Wenjuan,
Xu Liangtao,
Xue Xianghui,
Xu Shuang
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1029/2018gl079576
Subject(s) - sprite (computer graphics) , thunderstorm , meteorology , brightness , light emission , upper atmospheric lightning , geology , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , physics , astronomy , optics , lightning strike , computer science , computer vision
More than three dozen red sprites were captured above Hurricane Matthew on the nights of 1 and 2 October 2016 as it passed to the north of Venezuela after undergoing rapid intensification. Analyses using broadband magnetic fields indicate that all of the sprites were produced by positive cloud‐to‐ground (CG) strokes located within the outer rainbands as defined by relatively cold cloud top brightness temperatures (≤194 K). Negative CG strokes with impulse charge transfers exceeding the threshold of sprite production also existed, but the timescale of the charge transfer was not sufficiently long to develop streamers. The reported observations are contrary to the finding of the Imager of Sprites/Upper Atmospheric Lightning showing that sprites are preferentially produced by negative strokes in the same geographic region. Further ground‐based observations are desired to obtain additional insights into the convective regimes associated with the dominance of negative sprites in many oceanic and coastal thunderstorms.