Modeling Schumann resonances with schupy

Schupy is an open-source python package aimed at modeling and analyzing Schumann resonances (SRs), the global electromagnetic resonances of the Earth-ionosphere cavity resonator in the lowest part of the extremely low frequency band (<100 Hz). Its very-first function forward_tdte applies the solution of the 2-D telegraph equation introduced recently by Prácser et al. (2019) for a uniform cavity and is able to determine theoretical SR spectra for arbitrary source-observer configurations. It can be applied for both modeling extraordinarily large SR-transients or “background” SRs excited by incoherently superimposed lightning strokes within an extended source region. Three short studies are presented which might be important for SR related research. With the forward_tdte function our aim is to provide a medium complexity numerical background for the interpretation of SR observations. We would like to encourage the community to join our project in developing open-source analyzing capacities for SR research as part of the schupy package

Searching for effects caused by thunderstorms in midlatitude sporadic E layers

Possible thunderstorm - sporadic E (Es) layer coupling effects are investigated during two measurement periods, one in 2013 and one in 2014. The analysis was based on ionospheric observations obtained from a Digisonde at Pruhonice, the Czech Republic, an ionosonde at Nagycenk, Hungary, and a 3.59 MHz five-point continuous HF Doppler system located in the western part of the Czech Republic. The latter is capable of detecting ionospheric wave-like variations caused by neutral atmospheric waves generated by thunderstorms. The present study searches for possible impacts on Es layers caused by the presence of two active thunderstorms: one passing across the Czech Republic on June 20, 2013 (19:00 - 01:00 LT), and one through Hungary on July 30, 2014 (11:00 - 01:00 LT). During these two time periods, presence and parameters of Es layer were inferred from ionograms, recorded every minute at Pruhonice and every two minutes at Nagycenk, whereas concurrent lightning activity was monitored by the LINET detection network. In addition, transient luminous events (TLEs) were also observed during both nights from Sopron, Hungary and from Nydek, the Czech Republic. A noticeable fact was the reduction and disappearance of the ongoing Es layer activity during part of the time in both of the traversing thunderstorms. The analysis indicated that the critical frequency foEs dropped below ionosonde detection levels in both cases, possibly because of thunderstorm activity effects. This option, however, needs more case studies in order to be further substantiated

Effects of Energetic Solar Emissions on the Earth–Ionosphere Cavity of Schumann Resonances

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Schumann resonances (SR) are the electromagnetic oscillations of the spherical cavity bounded by the electrically conductive Earth and the conductive but dissipative lower ionosphere (Schumann in Z Naturforsch A 7:6627–6628, 1952). Energetic emissions from the Sun can exert a varied influence on the various parameters of the Earth’s SR: modal frequencies, amplitudes and dissipation parameters. The SR response at multiple receiving stations is considered for two extraordinary solar events from Solar Cycle 23: the Bastille Day event (July 14, 2000) and the Halloween event (October/November 2003). Distinct differences are noted in the ionospheric depths of penetration for X-radiation and solar protons with correspondingly distinct signs of the frequency response. The preferential impact of the protons in the magnetically unshielded polar regions leads to a marked anisotropic frequency response in the two magnetic field components. The general immunity of SR amplitudes to these extreme external perturbations serves to remind us that the amplitude parameter is largely controlled by lightning activity within the Earth–ionosphere cavity

Aliasing of the Schumann resonance background signal by sprite-associated Q-bursts

© 2017 The Authors The Earth\u27s naturally occurring Schumann resonances (SR) are composed of a quasi-continuous background component and a larger-amplitude, short-duration transient component, otherwise called ‘Q-burst’ (Ogawa et al., 1967). Sprites in the mesosphere are also known to accompany the energetic positive ground flashes that launch the Q-bursts (Boccippio et al., 1995). Spectra of the background Schumann Resonances (SR) require a natural stabilization period of ∼10–12 min for the three conspicuous modal parameters to be derived from Lorentzian fitting. Before the spectra are computed and the fitting process is initiated, the raw time series data need to be properly filtered for local cultural noise, narrow band interference as well as for large transients in the form of global Q-bursts. Mushtak and Williams (2009) describe an effective technique called Isolated Lorentzian (I-LOR), in which, the contributions from local cultural and various other noises are minimized to a great extent. An automated technique based on median filtering of time series data has been developed. These special lightning flashes are known to have greater contribution in the ELF range (below 1 kHz) compared to general negative CG strikes (Huang et al., 1999; Cummer et al., 2006). The global distributions of these Q-bursts have been studied by Huang et al. (1999) Rhode Island, USA by wave impedance methods from single station ELF measurements at Rhode Island, USA and from Japan Hobara et al. (2006). The present work aims to demonstrate the effect of Q-bursts on SR background spectra using GPS time-stamped observation of TLEs. It is observed that the Q-bursts selected for the present work do alias the background spectra over a 5-s period, though the amplitudes of these Q-bursts are far below the background threshold of 16 Core Standard Deviation (CSD) so that they do not strongly alias the background spectra of 10–12 min duration. The examination of one exceptional Q-burst shows that appreciable spectral aliasing can occur even when 12-min spectral integrations are considered. The statistical result shows that for a 12-min spectrum, events above 16 CSD are capable of producing significant frequency aliasing of the modal frequencies, although the intensity aliasing might have a negligible effect unless the events are exceptionally large (∼200 CSD). The spectral CSD methodology may be used to extract the time of arrival of the Q-burst transients. This methodology may be combined with a hyperbolic ranging, thus becoming an effective tool to detect TLEs globally with a modest number of networked observational stations

Inversion of Multi-Station Schumann Resonance Background Records for Global Lightning Activity in Absolute Units

Every lightning flash contributes energy to the TEM mode of the natural global waveguide that contains the Earth’s Schumann resonances. The modest attenuation at ELF (0.1 dB/Mm) allows for the continuous monitoring of the global lightning with a small number of receiving stations worldwide. In this study, nine ELF receiving sites (in Antarctica (3 sites), Hungary, India, Japan, Poland, Spitsbergen and USA) are used to provide power spectra at 12-minute intervals in two absolutely calibrated magnetic fields and occasionally, one electric field, with up to five resonance modes each. The observables are the extracted modal parameters (peak intensity, peak frequency and Q-factor) for each spectrum. The unknown quantities are the geographical locations of three continental lightning ‘chimneys’ and their lightning source strengths in absolute units (C2 km2/sec). The unknowns are calculated from the observables by the iterative inversion of an evolving ‘sensitivity matrix’ whose elements are the partial derivatives of each observable for all receiving sites with respect to each unknown quantity. The propagation model includes the important day-night asymmetry of the natural waveguide. To overcome the problem of multiple minima (common in inversion problems of this kind), location information from the World Wide Lightning Location Network has been used to make initial guess solutions based on centroids of stroke locations in each chimney. Results for five consecutive days in 2009 (Jan 7-11) show UT variations with the African chimney dominating on four of five days, and America dominating on the fifth day. The amplitude variations in absolute source strength exceed that of the ‘Carnegie curve’ of the DC global circuit by roughly twofold. Day-to-day variations in chimney source strength are of the order of tens of percent. Examination of forward calculations performed with the global inversion solution often show good agreement with the observed diurnal variations at individual receiving sites, lending confidence to the 3-chimney model for global lightning