Characteristics of VLF and ELF sferics associated with TLEs observed in a combined aircraft and ground-based campaign in 2011

In the period of a combined aircraft and ground-based campaign supported by NHK Cosmic Shore project, June 27 to July 10, 2011, we succeeded in capturing images for over a hundred of TLEs, including sprites, elves and blue jets. In order to investigate characteristics of lightning discharges producing TLEs, we installed a VLF observation system at Yucca Ridge Field Station, CO, and recorded sferics waveforms continuously through out the campaign period. The VLF observation system is composed of two horizontal magnetic loop antennas and a vertical electric dipole antenna, receiver, PC and GPS clock. The higher cutoff and sampling frequencies are 50 kHz and 80 kHz, respectively. In addition, we make use of waveform data recorded by the global ELF observation network (GEON) operated continuously by Hokkaido University. Based on these VLF and ELF waveform data, we can estimate charge moment changes (CMCs). Using not only the CMC values but also the precise location and peak currents of parent lightning discharges provided by existing lightning geolocation network, we can clarify the possible mechanisms, which cause a large variation in structures of TLEs. In this presentation, we introduce the availability of the sferics data recorded by VLF and ELF receivers for the observed TLEs and report the initial results of data analysis, namely, the relationship between the spatio-temporal structures of the representative TLEs observed in the campaign and the characteristics of parent lightning discharges, such as CMC values and associated pulse trains due to the intra-cloud discharge.