Heating of mesospheric air by sprites and its implications for production of infrasonic acoustic waves

Caitano L. da Silva, Victor P. Pasko

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Acceleration, expansion, and branching of sprite streamers can lead to concentration of high electrical currents in regions of space, that are observed in the form of bright sprite cores. Driven by this electrical current, a series of chemical processes take place in the sprite plasma. Excitation, followed by quenching of excited electronic states leads to energy transfer from charged to neutral species. The consequence is heating and expansion of air leading to emission of infrasonic acoustic waves. Our results indicate that &0.01 Pa pressure perturbations on the ground, observed in association with sprites, can only be produced by exceptionally strong currents in sprite cores, exceeding 2 kA.

Original languageEnglish (US)
StatePublished - 2014
Event15th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, ICAE 2014 - Norman, United States
Duration: Jun 15 2014Jun 20 2014

Conference

Conference15th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, ICAE 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNorman
Period6/15/146/20/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Atmospheric Science
  • Geophysics

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