Transient Upper Atmospheric Plasmas:Sprites and Halos

Passas, María; Río, Justo Sánchez del; Luque, Alejandro; Gordillo‐Vázquez, F. J.

doi:10.1109/tps.2014.2329320

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…GRASSP is in operation for ground‐based systematic imaging and spectroscopic surveys of all sorts of TLEs in Europe since October 2012 when the first GRASSP version (Parra‐Rojas, Passas, et al, ) was deployed in the Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory (CAHA) (3713'23''N 232'45''W) placed 2,168 m above sea level in southeast Spain. GRASSP recorded from Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory many images of distant TLEs (Passas et al, ) and carried out meteor spectroscopy (Passas, Madiedo, & Gordillo‐Vazquez , ). An upgraded version of GRASSP is now available and relocated (since May 2015) in Castellgali (Barcelona, 4140'36''N, 150'24''E) placed 266 m above sea level and close to the Ebro valley.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2018

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We present the first high spectral resolution (0.24 nm) spectra of sprites. These spectra were recorded in Europe in the summers and falls of 2015 and 2016 and during January 2017. The use of high spectral resolution has allowed us to resolve for the first time the internal (vibrorotational) structure of the sprite molecular N2 first positive system and to quantify the local gas (rotational) temperature of the mesosphere under the influence of sprites revealing that there is no measurable heating of the atmosphere associated to sprites at the altitudes explored. The temperatures of the explored region of the mesosphere range between 149 K ± 10 K and 226 K ± 20 K. The recorded spectroscopic data also provide valuable quantitative information on the concentrations of some of the vibrational levels of molecular nitrogen involved in transient red‐near‐infrared optical emissions from sprites. The regions of the transient luminous events recorded with our spectrograph (equipped with a horizontally oriented slit) correspond to altitudes in the 66 km to 74 km ± 5 km range.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2018

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“…The chemical impact and optical signatures of TLEs have been widely investigated by several authors (Gordillo‐Vázquez, ; Kuo et al, ; Parra‐Rojas, Luque, & Gordillo‐Vázquez, ; ; Sentman et al, ; Winkler & Notholt, ). There have also been some ground‐, balloon‐, plane‐, and space‐based instrumentation devoted to the study of TLEs, such as the Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL; Chern et al, ; Hsu et al, ) of the National Space Organization, Taiwan, that was in operation between May 2004 and June 2016, the Global LIghtning and sprite MeasurementS (GLIMS; Adachi et al, ; Sato et al, ) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency between 2012 and 2015, and the GRAnada Sprite Spectrograph and Polarimeter (Gordillo‐Vázquez et al, ; Parra‐Rojas, Passas, et al, ; Passas et al, , ) and the high‐speed ground‐based photometer array known as PIPER (Marshall et al, ), both of them currently in operation. Despite the valuable advance in the knowledge of TLEs in the last decades, there are still several open questions about the inception and evolution of these events or their global chemical influence in the atmosphere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectroscopic Diagnostic of Halos and Elves Detected From Space‐Based Photometers

et al. 2018

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In this work, we develop two spectroscopic diagnostic methods to derive the peak reduced electric field in transient luminous events (TLEs) from their optical signals. These methods could be used to analyze the optical signature of TLEs reported by spacecraft such as Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (European Space Agency) and the future Tool for the Analysis of RAdiations from lightNIngs and Sprites (Centre National d'Études Spatiales). As a first validation of these methods, we apply them to the predicted (synthetic) optical signatures of halos and elves, two types of TLEs, obtained from electrodynamical models. This procedure allows us to compare the inferred value of the peak reduced electric field with the value computed by halo and elve models. Afterward, we apply both methods to the analysis of optical signatures of elves and halos reported by Global LIghtning and sprite MeasurementS (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (National Space Organization) spacecraft, respectively. We conclude that the best emission ratios to estimate the maximum reduced electric field in halos and elves are the ratio of the second positive system of N2 to first negative system (FNS) of N 2+, the first positive system of N2 to FNS of N 2+ and the Lyman‐Birge‐Hopfield band of N2 to FNS of N 2+. In the case of reduced electric fields below 150 Td, we found that the ratio of the second positive system of N2 to first positive system of N2 can also be used to reasonably estimate the value of the field. Finally, we show that the reported optical signals from elves can be treated following an inversion method in order to estimate some of the characteristics of the parent lightning.

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“…Regarding precise determination of the gas temperature in the TLE surrounding the atmosphere, it is worth mentioning that the recording of TLE spectra with the instrument Granada Sprite Spectrograph and Polarimeter between 700 nm and 800 nm and with a spectral resolution of 0.07 nm/pixel or 0.25 nm will allow to better resolve TLE spectra and to be able to quantify a possible local heating due to TLE activity in the lower mesosphere [ Passas et al , ; Parra‐Rojas et al , ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical and thermal impacts of sprite streamers in the Earth's mesosphere

2015

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A one‐dimensional self‐consistent model has been developed to study the chemical and thermal effects of a single sprite streamer in the Earth's mesosphere. We have used sprite streamer profiles with three different driving current durations (5 ms, 50 ms, and 100 ms) between 50 and 80 km of altitude and considering a kinetic scheme of air with more than 90 chemical species. Our model predicts strong increases in practically all the concentrations of the species studied at the moment of the streamer head passage. Moreover, their densities remain high during the streamer afterglow phase. The concentration of electrons can reach values of up to 108 cm−3 in the three cases analyzed. The model also predicts an important enhancement, of several orders of magnitude above ambient values, of nitrogen oxides and several metastables species. On the other hand, we found that the 4.26 μm IR emission brightness of CO2 can reach 10 GR at low altitudes (< 65 km) for the cases of intermediate (50 ms) and long (100 ms) driving currents. These results suggest the possibility of detecting sprite IR emissions from space with the appropriate instrumentation. Finally, we found that the thermal impact of sprites in the Earth's mesosphere is proportional to the driving current duration. This produces variations of more than 40 K (in the extreme case of a 100 ms driving current) at low altitudes (< 55 km) and at about 10 s after the streamer head.

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Transient Upper Atmospheric Plasmas:Sprites and Halos

Cited by 9 publications

References 6 publications

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

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

Spectroscopic Diagnostic of Halos and Elves Detected From Space‐Based Photometers

Chemical and thermal impacts of sprite streamers in the Earth's mesosphere

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