Nadir observations of sprites from the International Space Station

Blanc, E.; Farges, Thomas; Roche, R.; Brebion, D.; Hua, T.; Labarthe, A.; Melnikov, V. E.

doi:10.1029/2003ja009972

Cited by 67 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…For example, ELF waveform recording and triangulation by the Schumann Resonance method has been used to study the characteristics of TLEs' parent lightning, especially the charge moment change and the polarity (Huang et al 1999; Sato and Fukunishi 2003;Cummer 2006). Space observation was first analyzed by Boeck et al (1995Boeck et al ( , 1998, followed by man-operated observation onboard the tragic space shuttle mission STS-107 (Yair et al 2004), and a nadir observation from the International Space Station (ISS, Blanc et al 2004). Space observation is able to carry out global observations and overcome geographical limitations, especially for oceanic regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity Degradation of ISUAL Instruments and Its Impact on Observations

Chen¹,

Wu²,

Chiang³

et al. 2012

Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci.

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In the past 6 years, the ISUAL payload onboard the Taiwanese FORMOSAT-2 satellite has successfully carried out the primary mission of performing a global survey of transient luminous events (TLE) and lightning activities. The observation data have been used to construct the first global distribution map of TLEs and to infer their occurrence rates. To register dim TLE emissions at night, ISUAL employs electron-multiplying devices like a photomultiplier, multi-anode array, and microchannel plate to intensify the photons emitted by transient events. These devices, however, will degrade gradually with age. The degradation rate and the performance change were monitored through periodic calibration observations and are investigated carefully in order to achieve precise photometry and accurate statistics. The annual degradation rates up to 14% were identified for some of the sensor elements. This paper presents the variations of instrument efficiencies and overall detection capabilities, before and after applying a gain-adjustment to compensate for sensor degradation. The resulting stable trend of the ISUAL trigger and lightning rates suggests that the bias from instrument degradation and gain adjustments is minimal. This point is also supported by the near constant sprite and halo detection rates deduced from different statistical temporal intervals. Hence, the anomalies in the ISUAL elve detection rate for 2008 ~ 2009 likely are due to the El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Forecast based on the ISUAL performance trend also indicates that the ISUAL sensors have sufficient sensitivity margins to operate efficiently until the end of 2013, or even beyond.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity Degradation of ISUAL Instruments and Its Impact on Observations

Chen¹,

Wu²,

Chiang³

et al. 2012

Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci.

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show abstract

“…The fi rst imaging of sprites from the space shuttle during the early 1990s showed that they were occurring over Argentina [Boeck et al, 1995;Lyons and Williams, 1993], and Blanc et al [2004] reported observing fi ve sprites over this region from the International Space Station during October 2002.…”

Section: Fig 2 Holocene Stratigraphy and Calibrated Radiocarbon Datmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 88, Number 10, 6 March 2007

2007

EoS Transactions

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“…The first imaging of sprites from the space shuttle during the early 1990s showed that they were occurring over Argentina [Boeck et al, 1995;Lyons and Williams, 1993], and Blanc et al [2004] reported observing five sprites over this region from the International Space Station during October 2002.…”

Section: The February 2006 Thunderstormsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A very active sprite‐producing storm observed over Argentina

Thomas¹,

Taylor²,

Pautet³

et al. 2007

EoS Transactions

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During the night of 22–23 February 2006, more than 400 middle‐atmospheric optical discharges were observed above one large thunderstorm system over northeastern Argentina. These transient luminous events (TLEs) were imaged during the Southern Brazil Sprite Campaign, the first campaign to focus on TLEs over southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and Uruguay. All of the TLEs were imaged from the Brazilian Southern Space Observatory (SSO) near Santa Maria, which is nearly in the center of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Although the fields of view of the imaging cameras were too narrow to view the entire storm, the more than 400 confirmed TLEs imaged indicate that this storm ranks as the third most active TLE producer ever reported. Hence, storms in this region of South America might be some of the leading TLE generators on Earth.

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Nadir observations of sprites from the International Space Station

Cited by 67 publications

References 36 publications

Sensitivity Degradation of ISUAL Instruments and Its Impact on Observations

Sensitivity Degradation of ISUAL Instruments and Its Impact on Observations

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 88, Number 10, 6 March 2007

A very active sprite‐producing storm observed over Argentina

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