100 research outputs found
Streamer propagation in the atmosphere of Titan and other N2:CH4 mixtures compared to N2:O2 mixtures
Streamers, thin, ionized plasma channels, form the early stages of lightning
discharges. Here we approach the study of extraterrestrial lightning by
studying the formation and propagation of streamer discharges in various
nitrogen-methane and nitrogen-oxygen mixtures with levels of nitrogen from 20%
to 98.4%. We present the friction force and breakdown fields Ek in various
N2:O2 (Earth-like) and N2:CH4 (Titan-like) mixtures. The strength of the
friction force is larger in N2:CH4 mixtures whereas the breakdown field in
mixtures with methane is half as large as in mixtures with oxygen. We use a 2.5
dimensional Monte Carlo particle-in-cell code with cylindrical symmetry to
simulate the development of electron avalanches from an initial electron-ion
patch in ambient electric fields between 1.5Ek and 3Ek. We compare the electron
density, the electric field, the front velocities as well as the occurrence of
avalanche-to-streamer transition between mixtures with methane and with oxygen.
Whereas we observe the formation of streamers in oxygen in all considered
cases, we observe streamer inceptions in methane for small percentages of
nitrogen or for large electric fields only. For large percentages of nitrogen
or for small fields, ionization is not efficient enough to form a streamer
channel within the length of the simulation domain. In oxygen, positive and
negative streamers move faster for small percentages of nitrogen. In mixtures
with methane, electron or streamer fronts move 10-100 times slower than in
mixtures with oxygen; the higher the percentage of methane, the faster the
fronts move.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl
Runaway electrons from a ‘beam-bulk’ model of streamer: application to TGFs
International audienc
Rare observations of sprites and gravity waves supporting D, E, F-regions ionospheric coupling
We report rare simultaneous observations of columniform sprites and associated gravity waves (GWs) using the Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) camera and All-sky imager at Prayagraj (25.5° N, 81.9° E, geomag. lat. ~ 16.5° N), India. On 30 May 2014, a Mesoscale Convective System generated a group of sprites over the north horizon that reached the upper mesosphere. Just before this event, GWs (period ~ 14 min) were seen in OH broadband airglow (emission peak ~ 87 km) imaging that propagated in the direction of the sprite occurrence and dissipated in the background atmosphere thereby generating turbulence. About 9–14 min after the sprite event, another set of GWs (period ~ 11 min) was observed in OH imaging that arrived from the direction of the TLEs. At this site, we also record Very Low Frequency navigational transmitter signal JJI (22.2 kHz) from Japan. The amplitude of the JJI signal showed the presence of GWs with ~ 12.2 min periodicities and ~ 18 min period. The GWs of similar features were observed in the ionospheric Total Electron Content variations recorded at a nearby GPS site. The results presented here are important to understand the physical coupling of the troposphere with the lower and upper ionosphere through GWs
Analysis of Blue Corona Discharges at the Top of Tropical Thunderstorm Clouds in Different Phases of Convection
We report on observations of corona discharges at the uppermost region of clouds characterized by emissions in a blue band of nitrogen molecules at 337 nm, with little activity in the red band of lightning leaders at 777.4 nm. Past work suggests that they are generated in cloud tops reaching the tropopause and above. Here we explore their occurrence in two convective environments of the same storm: one is developing with clouds reaching above the tropopause, and one is collapsing with lower cloud tops. We focus on those discharges that form a distinct category with rise times below 20 μs, implying that they are at the very top of the clouds. The discharges are observed in both environments. The observations suggest that a range of storm environments may generate corona discharges and that they may be common in convective surges.publishedVersio
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