A study of the possibility of sprites in the atmospheres of other planets

Abstract

[1] Sprites are a spectacular type of transient luminous events which occur above thunderstorms immediately after lightning. They have shapes of giant jellyfish, carrots, or columns and last tens of milliseconds. In Earth's atmosphere, sprites mostly emit in red and blue wavelengths from excited N 2 and N 2 + and span a vertical range between 50 and 90 km above the surface. The emission spectra, morphology, and occurrence heights of sprites reflect the properties of the planetary atmosphere they inhabit and are related to the intensity of the initiating parent lightning. This paper presents results of theoretical calculations of the expected occurrence heights of sprites above lightning discharges in the CO 2 atmosphere of Venus, the N 2 atmosphere of Titan, and the H 2 -He atmosphere of Jupiter. The expected emission features are presented, and the potential of detecting sprites in planetary atmospheres by orbiting spacecraft is discussed.

Storms on Venus: Lightning-induced chemistry and predicted products

“…Also observed were whistlers, electromagnetic waves guided by magnetic field lines (Yair et al, 2009). The Galileo spacecraft observed electromagnetic bursts during its flybys of Venus.…”

Mesospheric optical signatures of possible lightning on Venus

“…Both sprites and halos are generated by lightning‐produced quasi‐electrostatic electric fields as first proposed by Wilson [], while elves originate in the lower ionosphere of the Earth due to the propagating lightning electromagnetic pulses [ Fukunishi et al , ]. As suggested by Yair et al [], a possible way to optically detect lightning on Venus would be to search for the transient optical emissions of their induced glows in its upper atmosphere. Such Venusian mesospheric transient optical glows would be generated if sufficiently intense IC lightning flashes take place between the clouds of Venus [ Yair et al , ].…”

Lightning above the clouds

“…TGFs [11] are sudden bursts of highly energetic radiation associated with lightning strokes whose precise origin is under debate. Do sprites exist on other planets [12]? ere they would be the first observable signature of lightning when approaching the planet from space.…”