New color images of transient luminous events from dedicated observations on the International Space Station

Yair, Yoav; Rubanenko, Lior; Mezuman, Keren; Elhalel, Gal; Pariente, Meidad; Glickman-Pariente, Maya; Ziv, Baruch; Takahashi, Yukihiro; Inoue, Tomohiro

doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2013.05.004

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…From the pixel values and the approximate response of the camera, the brightness of the jet is estimated to be in the range of 0.2–0.4 MR [ Hunten et al , ]. The expansion velocity, color, and luminosity are consistent with blue jets reported in the past [ Schmetz et al , ; Yair et al , ]; however, at this point we refrain from categorizing the event in past terminologies and stay with a pulsating “blue discharge.” To our knowledge, these images are the first of pulsating discharges at the tops of storm clouds. They show the astonishing variety of forms that electrical activity can take as we continue to discover new varieties of discharges in and above thunderstorms.…”

Section: The Observationsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Profuse activity of blue electrical discharges at the tops of thunderstorms

Chanrion

Neubert

Mogensen

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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Thunderstorm clouds may reach the lower stratosphere, affecting the exchange of greenhouse gases between the troposphere and stratosphere. This region of the atmosphere is difficult to access experimentally, and our knowledge of the processes taking place here is incomplete. We recently recorded color video footage of thunderstorms over the Bay of Bengal from the International Space Station. The observations show a multitude of blue, kilometer‐scale, discharges at the cloud top layer at ~18 km altitude and a pulsating blue discharge propagating into the stratosphere reaching ~40 km altitude. The emissions are related to the so‐called blue jets, blue starters, and possibly pixies. The observations are the first of their kind and give a new perspective on the electrical activity at the top of tropical thunderstorms; further, they underscore that thunderstorm discharges directly perturb the chemistry of the stratosphere with possible implications for the Earth's radiation balance.

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Section: The Observationsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Profuse activity of blue electrical discharges at the tops of thunderstorms

Chanrion

Neubert

Mogensen

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…A very good place to observe TLEs is then the space. Such observations have been performed at the limb (MEIDEX [ Yair et al ., ], ISUAL [ Chern et al ., ; Chen et al ., ], and NASA Crew Earth Observations from the International Space Station (ISS) [ Jehl et al ., ]) or at the nadir from the ISS by Lightning and Sprites Observation (LSO) [ Blanc et al ., ], by a JAXA astronaut [ Yair et al ., ] or very recently by the JEM‐GLIMS instrument [ Sato et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of lightning, sprites, and human‐induced emissions observed by nadir‐viewing cameras on board the International Space Station

Farges

Blanc

2016

JGR Atmospheres

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The Lightning and Sprites Observation (LSO) experiment was designed to test a new concept of nadir-viewing sprite measurement on board the International Space Station using spectral differentiation methods for lightning and sprite identification. It was composed of two calibrated cameras: one equipped with a narrowband filter at 763 nm to maximize the contrast between sprites and lightning, and the other to monitor lightning. The LSO was operated at night during 15 days from 2001 to 2004 during which 197 lightning flashes, several sprites, hundreds of gas flares, and tens of cities were analyzed. The main strength of this experiment was its high spatial resolution of about 400 m. The structural details of some lightning are thus observed highlighting complex systems. Some features such as the nonlinear increase of the lightning-illuminated cloud top area with the peak radiance and the radial decrease of the lightning flash radiance were quantified. The median area is 129 km 2 with median minor and major axes of 12 and 16 km. Two methods of sprite identification are presented and applied to the most intense sprite events observed by LSO. The sprite diameter is 5 km and it is shifted of about 22 km from the center of the parent lightning. A ratio of 1.7% is deduced for lightning flashes between the radiances measured by both cameras. These observations should be useful for the preparation or the analysis of future space missions dedicated to nadir-viewing observations of sprites. Citation:Farges, T., and E. Blanc (2016), Characteristics of lightning, sprites, and human-induced emissions observed by nadir-viewing cameras on board the International Space Station, J. Geophys.

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“…Thus, it was difficult to validate the parent CG discharges of the possible sprite events reported in that study using ground‐based extremely low frequency (ELF) and VLF measurement data. Recently, optical observations of TLEs were also conducted from the ISS [ Jehl et al , ; Yair et al , ]. Jehl et al [] analyzed 15 sprite events detected using a Nikon digital color camera from the ISS, and they showed that the measured optical emissions of sprites mainly originated in the N 2 1P band system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jehl et al [] analyzed 15 sprite events detected using a Nikon digital color camera from the ISS, and they showed that the measured optical emissions of sprites mainly originated in the N 2 1P band system. Yair et al [] analyzed image data obtained by an EMCCD normal video rate color TV camera installed at the Cupola module at the ISS and showed the first color nadir images of sprites. These results suggest that the ISS is one of the best platforms to conduct TLE observations from space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview and early results of the Global Lightning and Sprite Measurements mission

et al. 2015

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Global Lightning and Sprite Measurements on Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-GLIMS) isa space mission to conduct the nadir observations of lightning discharges and transient luminous events (TLEs). The main objectives of this mission are to identify the horizontal distribution of TLEs and to solve the occurrence conditions determining the spatial distribution. JEM-GLIMS was successfully launched and started continuous nadir observations in 2012. The global distribution of the detected lightning events shows that most of the events occurred over continental regions in the local summer hemisphere. In some events, strong far-ultraviolet emissions have been simultaneously detected with N 2 1P and 2P emissions by the spectrophotometers, which strongly suggest the occurrence of TLEs. Especially, in some of these events, no significant optical emission was measured by the narrowband filter camera, which suggests the occurrence of elves, not sprites. The VLF receiver also succeeded in detecting lightning whistlers, which show clear falling-tone frequency dispersion. Based on the optical data, the time delay from the detected lightning emission to the whistlers was identified as ∼10 ms, which can be reasonably explained by the wave propagation with the group velocity of whistlers. The VHF interferometer conducted the spaceborne interferometric observations and succeeded in detecting VHF pulses. We observed that the VHF pulses are likely to be excited by the lightning discharge possibly related with in-cloud discharges and measured with the JEM-GLIMS optical instruments. Thus, JEM-GLIMS provides the first full set of optical and electromagnetic data of lightning and TLEs obtained by nadir observations from space.

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New color images of transient luminous events from dedicated observations on the International Space Station

Cited by 17 publications

References 39 publications

Profuse activity of blue electrical discharges at the tops of thunderstorms

Profuse activity of blue electrical discharges at the tops of thunderstorms

Characteristics of lightning, sprites, and human‐induced emissions observed by nadir‐viewing cameras on board the International Space Station

Overview and early results of the Global Lightning and Sprite Measurements mission

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