On the high population of negative sprite-producing lightning strokes produced by oceanic thunderstorms
Abstract
Although lightning in the ocean is not as frequent as that occurring in the continent, it might be much more sufficient in causing transient luminous events above thunderstorms. The ground-based observations since 2016 from a station located in Puerto Rico confirmed the observation of space-borne platform ISUAL showing that there is a relatively high population (about 20%) of negative sprite-producing lightning strokes produced by oceanic thunderstorms in the vicinity of North America. The vast majority of these negative sprite-producing strokes, including those observed by ground-based and space-borne platform, were produced by massive thunderstorms characterized by deep convection favorable for high lightning incidence. The statistics of lightning strength for the negative sprite-producing strokes are consistent with previous analysis on ISUAL data set showing that negative sprites are predominantly produced by lightning strokes with high peak current (typically >-100 kA) and large impulse charge moment changes (usually >-500 C km).
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMAE23A..06L
- Keywords:
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- 3304 Atmospheric electricity;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3324 Lightning;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3394 Instruments and techniques;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES