GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 5, 10.1029/2001GL013267, 2002

The electrodynamics of sprites

E. A. Bering III, J. R. Benbrook, J. A. Garrett, and A. M. Paredes

Physics Department, University of Houston,
Houston, TX, USA

E. M. Wescott, D. R. Moudry, D. D. Sentman, and H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen

Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska,
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

W. A. Lyons

FMA Research, Inc., Yucca Ridge Field Station,
Ft. Collins CO, USA

Abstract

[1]   A balloon campaign was conducted in summer, 1999, to measure the stratospheric electromagnetic fields associated with sprites. The balloon payloads were instrumented with electric field detectors, magnetometers, an upward looking photometer, and other instruments. Ground observations for detection of sprites included low light level TV (LLTV) observations from three sites, Jelm Mt., Wyoming, Bear Mt., South Dakota, and Yucca Ridge, Colorado. Flight 3 of the campaign flew from Ottumwa, Iowa at 00:39:32 UTC to 11:12:00 UTC on 08/21/99. A sprite at 0955:36.980 UTC produced a vertical electric field perturbation of ~0.275 V/m that was similar in time profile to the light emission. There was also a positive azimuthal magnetic pulse of ~3 nT.

Received 3 April 2001; revised 8 January 2002; accepted 10 January 2002; published 13 March 2002.

Index Terms: 0342 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere—energy deposition; 2427 Ionosphere: Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions (0335); 3304 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Atmospheric electricity; 3324 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Lightning.

AGU

Citation: Bering, E. A. III, J. R. Benbrook, J. A. Garrett, A. M. Paredes, E. M. Wescott, D. R. Moudry, D. D. Sentman, H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen, and W. A. Lyons, The electrodynamics of sprites, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29 (5), 10.1029/2001GL013267, 2002.