Estimating the electron energy and the strength of the electric field within sprites using ground-based optical data observed over South African storms
| dc.contributor.author | Nnadih, O | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kosch, M | |
| dc.contributor.author | Mlynarczyk, J | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-07-20T09:35:48Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-07-20T09:35:48Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021 | |
| dc.description.abstract | We present a new simplified method to estimate the characteristic electron energy and electric field within a mesospheric transient luminous event using ground-based calibrated and filtered optical data. We assume non-relativistic motion, a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, a model of the electron-neutral collision frequency, elastic electron collisions, that the collisional excitation cross-section can be assigned to a single value, and that each electron-neutral collision produces one photon on average. Example observations of carrot sprites over South Africa give estimated electron energy of 4.6–4.9 ± 0.03 eV, which compares favourably with previous similar results using more sophisticated methods. Ideally, two wavelengths should be observed simultaneously but we show a good estimate is possible with only the bright N2(1 PG) red emission. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Nnadih, Ogechukwu & Kosch, Mike & Mlynarczyk, Janusz. (2021). Estimating the electron energy and the strength of the electric field within sprites using ground-based optical data observed over South African storms. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. 225. 105760. 10.1016/j.jastp.2021.105760. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1364-6826 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | 10.1016/j.jastp.2021.105760 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10566/7619 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Elsevier | en_US |
| dc.subject | Lightning discharges | en_US |
| dc.subject | Sprites electron energy | en_US |
| dc.subject | Mesosphere | en_US |
| dc.subject | Thunderstorms | en_US |
| dc.subject | Solar-Terrestrial | en_US |
| dc.subject | Atmospheric Physics | en_US |
| dc.title | Estimating the electron energy and the strength of the electric field within sprites using ground-based optical data observed over South African storms | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |