Statistics and variability of the altitude of elves

Abstract

From June 2008 to January 2016 nearly 800 elves have been recorded by a low‐light camera in northeastern Spain. Elves occur in this region mainly over the lower topped cold air mass maritime thunderstorms, peaking from November to January. Cloud‐to‐ground strokes still produce elves when maritime winter storms are carried inland, suggesting that the cold season thunderstorm charge configuration favors strokes with large electromagnetic pulses. Altitudes of 389 elves were determined using optical data combined with a lightning location network. The overall median altitude was 87.1 km, near the typical OH airglow height, but average heights during individual nights ranged between 83 and 93 km. The lower elve nights (~84 km) occurred during slightly elevated geomagnetic conditions (Kp >3‐, Ap‐index >10). Elve altitude often shifts by several kilometers during the night, apparently in response to changing background conditions in the upper mesosphere.

Global Occurrence and Chemical Impact of Stratospheric Blue Jets Modeled With WACCM4

“…Other types of TLEs, known as halos and elves, can also be produced in the upper atmosphere at altitudes greater than 70 and 80 km. Both halos and sprites can have a duration of several milliseconds (Barrington‐Leigh et al, ; Bering, Benbrook, et al, ; Bering et al, ; Bering, Bhusal, et al, ; Frey et al, ; Gordillo‐Vázquez, ; Luque & Gordillo‐Vázquez, ; Lyons et al, ; Moudry et al, ; Sentman & Wescott, ; Sentman et al, ; Wescott, Stenbaek‐Nielsen, et al, ), while elves have a duration of less than 1 ms (Gordillo‐Vázquez et al, ; Inan et al, , ; Kuo et al, ; Marshall et al, ; Moudry et al, ; Pérez‐Invernón, Luque, & Gordillo‐Vázquez, ; Pérez‐Invernón, Luque, Gordillo‐Vazquez, Sato, et al, ; Taranenko et al, ; van der Velde & Montanyá, ).…”

“…Both halos and sprites can have a duration of several milliseconds (Barrington-Leigh et al, 2001; Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 10.102910. /2018JD029593 et al, 2002Frey et al, 2007;Gordillo-Vázquez, 2008;Luque & Gordillo-Vázquez, 2011;Lyons et al, 2000;Moudry et al, 2003;Sentman et al, 2008;, while elves have a duration of less than 1 ms Inan et al, 1997Inan et al, , 1991Kuo et al, 2007;Marshall et al, 2010;Moudry et al, 2003;Pérez-Invernón, Luque, & Gordillo-Vázquez, 2018;Pérez-Invernón, Luque, Gordillo-Vazquez, Sato, et al, 2018;Taranenko et al, 1993;van der Velde & Montanyá, 2016).…”

High Spectral Resolution Spectroscopy of Sprites: A Natural Probe of the Mesosphere

“…We have calculated the approximate altitudes of the TLE regions whose spectra are recorded, and we have correlated them with the derived gas temperatures. A more detailed discussion on the methodology followed for sprite altitude determination can be found in the supporting information (São Sabbas et al, ; van der Velde & Montanyà, ). Furthermore, we present quantitative measurements of the relative vibrational concentrations of the emitting electronic state N 2 (B 3 Π g , v ) from carrot, single‐column, and multicolumn‐like sprites and compare them with previous measurements and theoretical calculations.…”

Modeling the Chemical Impact and the Optical Emissions Produced by Lightning‐Induced Electromagnetic Fields in the Upper Atmosphere: The case of Halos and Elves Triggered by Different Lightning Discharges

“…Other space missions, such as ISUAL (Chang et al, ) and JEM‐GLIMS (Adachi et al, ), have investigated the optical signature of elves, mainly recording photons from the first and second positive systems of the molecular nitrogen (FP system of N 2 and the SP system of N 2 ), first negative system of the molecular nitrogen ion (N ‐1N), Meinel band of the molecular nitrogen ion (Meinel N ), and Lyman‐Birge‐Hopfield (LBH) band of the molecular neutral nitrogen. In addition, ground‐based observations have provided accurate information about the altitude and structure of elves (van der Velde & Montanyà, ). Moreover, some authors have previously investigated elves by modeling the impact of EMPs in the lower ionosphere (Inan et al, ; Kuo et al, ; Marshall, ; Marshall et al, ; Taranenko et al, ).…”

“…Elves are very fast optical emissions (less than 1 ms) as a consequence of the heating of electron produced by lightning-generated EMPs (Inan et al, 1991(Inan et al, , 1997Moudry et al, 2003). This type of TLE is usually observed in a thin layer of the upper atmosphere usually located at 88 km of altitude (van der Velde & Montanyà, 2016), with a radius of more than 200 km. Lightning detection networks associate most of observed elves with CG lightning discharges, whose electromagnetic emission pattern produces toroidal light emissions in the lower ionosphere (Moudry et al, 2003;van der Velde & Montanyà, 2016).…”