THUNDERSTORMS AND THUNDERSTORMS AND LIGHTNING LIGHTNING

GENERATING SPRITESGENERATING SPRITES

Rumjana Mitzeva

OutlineOutline

• Thunderstorms and lightning• Field observations and results• Physical mechanism• Outstanding problems

Answer to questionsAnswer to questions

• What is the relation between lightning and sprites?

• Which types of thunderstorms produce sprites and in which part?

• Which conditions are conductive (favorable) for the required lightning activity in these regions?

• Why?

• How do these microphysical conditions develop?

Transient luminous events Transient luminous events (TLEs)(TLEs)

Optical signatures of electrical breakdown in the upper atmosphere due to rapid charge rearrangement in underlying thunderclouds

(Adapted from Lyons et al. 2000)

ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS Negative CG lightning

Thunderstorms and Thunderstorms and LightningLightning

a) Stratiform region of MCS

- Positive CG spider lightning

b) Ordinary thundercloud

- Negative CG lightning

c) Tilted thundercloud- Positive CG lightning

d)Supercell thunderstorms with inverted polarity

- Positive CG lightning

Field StudiesField Studies

• USA – 1994, 1996 – first field study• USA - Severe Thunderstorm Electrification

and Precipitation Study (STEPS) - High Plains, near the Colorado-Kansas border May – J uly 2000

• EUROPE - first field study 2000• EUROSPRITE – start 2003–2006 - Southern

Europe and South Africa• Brazil Sprite Campaign – 2002-2003• Chile - Argentina – January 2005• Spain - Catalonia 2003, 2004• Japan – over Sea of Japan in Winter• Bulgaria - ?

First analysesFirst analyses

• Boccippio et al., 1995 - Analyzed 42 sprites in July 12, 1994 and 55 sprites on September 7, 1994 +CG lightning precedes most sprites (85%) by approximately 20-30 min

• Sabbas [1999] studied 746 sprite events from 7 days from the Sprites’96 Campaign, 75% of sprites were preceded by +CG lightning.

STEPSSTEPS Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and

Precipitation StudyHigh Plains, near the Colorado-Kansas border

May-July 2000

1. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO2. National Center for Atmospheric Research,

Boulder, CO3. National Weather Service, Lincoln, IL4. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology,

Rapid City, SD5. Colorado Climate Center, Fort Collins, CO6. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology,

Socorro, NM7. FMA Research, Inc., Fort Collins, CO8. National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK

EUROSPRITE 2003EUROSPRITE 2003

1. Danish National Space Center, Juliane Maries Vej 30, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark

2. Oersted-DTU, Danish Technical University, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

3. 'Commissariat Energie Atomique, Bruyeres-le-Chatel, France

4. Department of Physics, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

5. Laboratoire d'Aerologie, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

6. Space Telecommunications and Radio Science Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

7. Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute, Sopron, Hungary

8. Space Physics Research Institute, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa

Type of measurementsType of measurements

• Multiple-Doppler and polarimetric radar network

• Time-of-arrival VHF lightning mapping system

• Research aircraft• Electric field meters carried on balloons• Instruments to detect and classify transient

luminous events over thunderstorms

RESULTSRESULTSfrom STEPSfrom STEPS

• More than 1200 transient luminous events (TLEs; mostly sprites)

• Sprite parent +CG flashes, most often within the stratiform precipitation region of larger MCSs

• Sprites typically accompany only a small percentage of +CG flashes

• Supercells rarely produce sprites, except during their dissipating stage, as stratiform debris cloud develops

• M=600 C-km – 10% probability of sprite occurrence• M>600 C-km – 90% probability of sprite occurrence

STEPSSTEPS

• Charge reservoir for SP+CGs would be found within the lower portions of the MCS stratiform region

• Large charge moment Mq values appear to be necessary, though perhaps not sufficient condition for sprite generation.

EUROSPRITE 2003EUROSPRITE 2003

• Similar results to STEPS +

• Infrasound from sprite – first clear identification

• Sprites generated by intra-cloud lightning - first detections

• No signatures of relativistic electrons were identified

Sprite Parent ThunderstormsSprite Parent Thunderstorms

In Summer• Stratiform regions of mid latitude Mesoscale

convective systems (MCSs) -150 km2

• Mature and dissipating organized convection

• Not found over ordinary isolated thunderclouds

In Winter• Over Sea of Japan

Sprite Parent LightningSprite Parent Lightning

• Mainly positive CG lightning spider lightning

• Charge moment greater than 500 C-km• Total charge transfer > 100 C

Physical mechanisms of sprite Physical mechanisms of sprite generationgeneration

Wilson, 1925 - the electrostatic field change of the lightning flash is sufficient to exceed the dielectric strength of the mesosphere and initiate the sprite – electrical breakdown

The critical lightning source property is the vertical charge moment — the product of total charge transfer and the height above ground from which the charge is removed.

Electron runway breakdown versus Electron runway breakdown versus conventional electrical breakdownconventional electrical breakdown

Why +CG lightning in stratiform Why +CG lightning in stratiform regions of MCS generates regions of MCS generates

sprites?sprites?

• +CG - larger lightning charge moment• +CG - longer duration of the parent

lightning currents

• -CG frequently exhibit multiple strokes, each with current cutoff and no continuing current, whereas +CG flashes frequently show single-stroke behavior with a continuing current

Polarity asymmetryPolarity asymmetry

• Mobility contrast between electrons and positive ions

• Threshold for propagation of “+” end < for “-” end

• Mobile electrons are convergent on one end (the ‘easy’ direction) and divergent at the other (‘hard’ direction)

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS

Sprites are thought to be generated by the electric field pulse that travels upward toward the ionosphere predominantly from a positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) stroke of lightning from stratiform regions of MCS - often by spider lightning

Outstanding questionsOutstanding questions

• Conventional electrical breakdown or runway electrons?

• Why mainly positive lightning in stratiform regions of MCSs generates sprites?

• Do sprites and jets affect the atmosphere - altering greenhouse gas concentrations in the stratosphere and mesosphere or modulating the atmospheric electric circuit.

EUROSPRITE CAMPAIGN 2006EUROSPRITE CAMPAIGN 2006

ReferencesReferences

• Barrington-Leigh, C.P., U.S. Inan, M. Stanley, and S.A. Cummer, Sprites directly triggered by negative lightning discharges, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 3605-3608, 1999.

• Boccippio, D., Williams, E., Heckman, S., Lyons, W., Baker, I., Boldi, R., 1995. Sprites, ELF transients, and positive ground strokes. Science 269, 1088.

• Cummer S. , 2003: Current moment in sprite-producing lightning, J Atm.spheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 65 ,499 – 508

• Cummer S and Walter A. Lyons,2004:Lightning charge moment changes in U.S. High Plains thunderstorms, GRL, v. 31, L05114, doi:10.1029/2003GL019043

• Cummer s. and al., 2005: Characteristics of Sprite-Producing Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning during the 19 July 2000 STEPS Mesoscale Convective Systems, GRL, VOL. 32, L08811, doi:10.1029/2005GL022778, 2005

• Gerken A. and U.Inan, 2004: Comparison of photometric measurements and charge moment estimations in two sprite-producing storms, GRL, V. 31, L03107, doi:10.1029/2003GL018751

• Lyons et al., 2003: Characteristics of Sprite-Producing Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning during the19 July 2000 STEPS Mesoscale Convective Systems, Mon Wea Rev, v.131. p.2417-2427

• Wilson, C.T.R, The electric field of a thundercloud and some of its effects, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 37, 32D, 1925.

• Williams, E., E. Downes, R. Boldi, W. Lyons and S. Heckman, The polarity asymmetry of sprite-producing lightning: A paradox, Preprint volume, 9-11, Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, Brazilian Society for Electrical Protection, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, November 7-11, 2004.