Underlying mechanisms of transient luminous events: a review

Abstract

Abstract. Transient luminous events (TLEs) occasionally observed above a strong thunderstorm system have been the subject of a great deal of research during recent years. The main goal of this review is to introduce readers to recent theories of electrodynamics processes associated with TLEs. We examine the simplest versions of these theories in order to make their physics as transparent as possible. The study is begun with the conventional mechanism for air breakdown at stratospheric and mesospheric altitudes. An electron impact ionization and dissociative attachment to neutrals are discussed. A streamer size and mobility of electrons as a function of altitude in the atmosphere are estimated on the basis of similarity law. An alternative mechanism of air breakdown, runaway electron mechanism, is discussed. In this section we focus on a runaway breakdown field, characteristic length to increase avalanche of runaway electrons and on the role played by fast seed electrons in generation of the runaway breakdown. An effect of thunderclouds charge distribution on initiation of blue jets and gigantic jets is examined. A model in which the blue jet is treated as upward-propagating positive leader with a streamer zone/corona on the top is discussed. Sprite models based on streamer-like mechanism of air breakdown in the presence of atmospheric conductivity are reviewed. To analyze conditions for sprite generation, thunderstorm electric field arising just after positive cloudto-ground stroke is compared with the thresholds for propagation of positively/negatively charged streamers and with runway breakdown. Our own estimate of tendril's length at the bottom of sprite is obtained to demonstrate that the runaway breakdown can trigger the streamer formation. In conclusion we discuss physical mechanisms of VLF (very low frequency) and ELF (extremely low frequency) phenomena associated with sprites.

Schumann Resonance for Tyros

“…Source location was performed in many works (e.g. Special interest in the Q-bursts and in the slow tail atmospherics appeared again after establishing their association with the lightning strokes that are the source of transient luminous events (TLEs) in the mesosphere Marshall et al 1998;Füllekrug 1999;Price et al 2002Sato et al 2003;Marshall et al 2005;Neubert et al 2005;Shalimov and Bösinger 2006;Hayakawa et al , 2012Whitley et al 2011;Surkov and Hayakawa 2012). Special interest in the Q-bursts and in the slow tail atmospherics appeared again after establishing their association with the lightning strokes that are the source of transient luminous events (TLEs) in the mesosphere Marshall et al 1998;Füllekrug 1999;Price et al 2002Sato et al 2003;Marshall et al 2005;Neubert et al 2005;Shalimov and Bösinger 2006;Hayakawa et al , 2012Whitley et al 2011;Surkov and Hayakawa 2012).…”

Lightning and middle atmospheric discharges in the atmosphere

“…Inspired by these early findings, two independent groups lead by Waltor Lyons of Mission Research Corporation (Lyons, 1994) and Davis Sentman of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (Sentman and Wescott, 1993) initiated field programs to study the new phenomenon. The interest in TLEs have subsequently spurred worldwide and several hundred research papers and many review papers including books have been published (recent review papers- Pasko, 2008Pasko, , 2010Neubert et al, 2008;Sentman et al, 2008;Lyons et al, 2009;Raizer et al, 2010;Inan et al, 2010;Siingh et al, , 2012Pasko et al, 2012;Surkov and Hayakawa, 2012;Sato et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2015;etc.). Some features of TLEs are listed in Table 1.…”

“…(6) (Surkov and Hayakawa, 2012). j g is the gravity driven updraft current inside thundercloud, which is zero outside.…”

“…A simple scenario of blue jet development into a gigantic along with spatial charge distribution in the thunderstorm (after:Surkov and Hayakawa, 2012).…”

TARANIS XGRE and IDEE detection capability of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and associated electron beams

“…Together with transient luminous events for the optical part (see Surkov and Hayakawa, 2012, for a comprehensive review), they play an important role in understanding the coupling between magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere. A comprehensive review of TGFs and related studies, called the High Energy Atmospheric Physics, is provided by Dwyer et al (2012).…”