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Excitation of the ionospheric Alfven resonator by strong lightning discharges
Author(s) -
Sukhorukov A. I.,
Stubbe P.
Publication year - 1997
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 - 10.1029/97gl00807
Subject(s) - ionosphere , atmospheric sciences , excitation , geophysics , lightning (connector) , impulse (physics) , physics , resonator , nonlinear system , atmospheric electricity , meteorology , environmental science , computational physics , electric field , optics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
A mechanism for the nonlinear excitation of the ionospheric Alfven resonator by elves‐ or/and sprites‐produced lightning discharge is proposed. The source of the time‐varying nonlinear current, located at altitudes below 95 km, is due to the large impulse electron heating and breakdown of the atmosphere by a strong tropospheric discharge. The discussed mechanism may be responsible for anomalously large ULF events observed onboard the satellites above atmospheric weather systems.