New evidence for the brightness and ionization of blue starters and blue jets

Wescott, E. M.; Sentman, D. D.; Stenbaek‐Nielsen, H. C.; Huet, Patrice; Heavner, M.; Moudry, D. R.

doi:10.1029/2000ja000429

Cited by 86 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…However, this basin has shown interesting electrical phenomena such as transient luminous events (TLEs) which occurs in the middle and upper atmosphere. Wescott et al (2001) presented a photograph of a blue jet which developed north of La Réunion (a French island in the Indian Ocean) which shows some details of streamers never observed before. More recently, Soula et al (2011) recorded 5 gigantic jets in an isolated storm near La Réunion at about 50 km from the observation site.…”

Section: Bovalo Et Al: a Lightning Climatology Of The South-west mentioning

confidence: 99%

A lightning climatology of the South-West Indian Ocean

Bovalo

Barthe

Bègue

2012

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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The SWIO is characterized by a wet season (November to April) and a dry season (May to October). As one could expect, lightning activity is more intense during the wet season as the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is present over all the basin. Flash density is higher over land in November-December-January with values reaching 3-4 fl km −2 yr −1 over Madagascar. During the dry season, lightning activity is quite rare between 10 • S and 25 • S. The Mascarene anticyclone has more influence on the SWIO resulting in shallower convection. Lightning activity is concentrated over ocean, east of South Africa and Madagascar.A statistical analysis has shown that El Niño-Southern Oscillation mainly modulates the lightning activity up to 56.8 % in the SWIO. The Indian Ocean Dipole has a significant contribution since ∼ 49 % of the variability is explained by this forcing in some regions. The Madden-Julian Oscillation did not show significative impact on the lightning activity in our study.

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Section: Bovalo Et Al: a Lightning Climatology Of The South-west mentioning

confidence: 99%

A lightning climatology of the South-West Indian Ocean

Bovalo

Barthe

Bègue

2012

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…This is not a surprise given the strong electric field produced by a great number of charges situated around the head of streamer. A streamer-like structure of BJs, GJs and sprites has been well documented with a high-speed camera and with a highresolution detector in many observations (Wescott et al, 2001;Pasko and George, 2002;Cummer et al, 2006a, b;Pasko, 2007;McHarg et al, 2007). As we have noted above, the ionizing collisions and photoionization are predominant in the vicinity of streamer head because of stronger electric field, which in turn causes the charge buildup at the head of streamer (Fig.…”

Section: Streamersmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The carrot type sprite contains diffuse tops and lower tendrils extending down to altitudes of 30-40 km, while the columniform sprite has a very fine spatial structure as compared with the "carrot" sprite (e.g. Hayakawa et al, 2004;Wescott et al, 1998). The faint red glow diffusion region lies in the altitude range 85 to 90 km, while the brightest region occurs in the 65-85 km altitude range.…”

Section: Spritesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underlying mechanisms of transient luminous events: a review

Сурков

Hayakawa

2012

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. Transient luminous events (TLEs) occasionally observed above a strong thunderstorm system have been the subject of a great deal of research during recent years. The main goal of this review is to introduce readers to recent theories of electrodynamics processes associated with TLEs. We examine the simplest versions of these theories in order to make their physics as transparent as possible. The study is begun with the conventional mechanism for air breakdown at stratospheric and mesospheric altitudes. An electron impact ionization and dissociative attachment to neutrals are discussed. A streamer size and mobility of electrons as a function of altitude in the atmosphere are estimated on the basis of similarity law. An alternative mechanism of air breakdown, runaway electron mechanism, is discussed. In this section we focus on a runaway breakdown field, characteristic length to increase avalanche of runaway electrons and on the role played by fast seed electrons in generation of the runaway breakdown. An effect of thunderclouds charge distribution on initiation of blue jets and gigantic jets is examined. A model in which the blue jet is treated as upward-propagating positive leader with a streamer zone/corona on the top is discussed. Sprite models based on streamer-like mechanism of air breakdown in the presence of atmospheric conductivity are reviewed. To analyze conditions for sprite generation, thunderstorm electric field arising just after positive cloudto-ground stroke is compared with the thresholds for propagation of positively/negatively charged streamers and with runway breakdown. Our own estimate of tendril's length at the bottom of sprite is obtained to demonstrate that the runaway breakdown can trigger the streamer formation. In conclusion we discuss physical mechanisms of VLF (very low frequency) and ELF (extremely low frequency) phenomena associated with sprites.

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“…A number of BJ/BS and similar events were captured during the ground and aircraft observations (Wescott et al 1998(Wescott et al , 2001; Lyons et al 2000Lyons et al , 2003 and apparently from the space shuttle (Boeck et al , 1998. and Su et al (2003) discovered the so-called gigantic jets (GJ), propagating into the mesosphere/lower ionosphere (6 events).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue Jets: Upward Lightning

Mishin

Milikh

2008

Space Sci Rev

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Blue jets are beams of blue light propagating from the tops of active thunderclouds up to altitudes of ∼50 km. They resemble tall trees with quasi-vertical trunk and filamentary branches. Their apparent speeds are in the range of 10 s to 100 s km/s. Other events, having essentially lower terminal altitudes (<26 km), are named blue starters. These phenomena represent the first documented class of upward electrical discharges in the stratosphere. Some of upward discharges, termed gigantic jets, propagate into the lower ionosphere at much higher speeds in the final phase. We describe salient features of the upward discharges in the atmosphere, give an assessment of the theories of their development, and discuss the consequences for the electrodynamics and chemistry of the stratosphere. We argue that this upward lightning phenomenon can be understood in terms of the bidirectional leader, emerging from the anvil.

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New evidence for the brightness and ionization of blue starters and blue jets

Cited by 86 publications

References 10 publications

A lightning climatology of the South-West Indian Ocean

A lightning climatology of the South-West Indian Ocean

Underlying mechanisms of transient luminous events: a review

Blue Jets: Upward Lightning

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