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Sustained heating of the ionosphere above thunderstorms as evidenced in “early/fast” VLF events
Author(s) -
Inan Umran S.,
Pasko Victor P.,
Bell Timothy F.
Publication year - 1996
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 - 10.1029/96gl01360
Subject(s) - ionosphere , lightning (connector) , thunderstorm , very low frequency , daytime , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , physics , meteorology , electron , environmental science , geology , astronomy , nuclear physics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
Quasi‐electrostatic (QE) thundercloud fields are proposed to maintain the ionospheric electrons at a persistently heated level well above their ambient thermal energy. Changes in the thundercloud charge (e.g., in lightning discharges) lead to heating/cooling above/below this quiescent level, and are registered as sudden (i.e., ‘fast’ <20 ms) subionospheric VLF signal changes, occurring simultaneously (i.e., ‘early’, <20 ms) with lightning discharges, and referred to as early/fast VLF events [ Inan et al. , 1993].