Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds
Abstract Corona discharges in thundercloud tops are observed by the Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) as blue flashes at the 337 nm spectral line of N2 and by ground receivers as so‐called Narrow Bipolar Events (NBEs) in the radio signals. It has been suggested that the electromagnetic ra...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL114090 |
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| author | Feifan Liu Torsten Neubert Olivier Chanrion Ningyu Liu Baoyou Zhu Gaopeng Lu Fanchao Lyu Zilong Qin Ming Luo Dongshuai Li Krystallia Dimitriadou Jiuhou Lei Nikolai Østgaard Victor Reglero Christoph Köhn |
| author_facet | Feifan Liu Torsten Neubert Olivier Chanrion Ningyu Liu Baoyou Zhu Gaopeng Lu Fanchao Lyu Zilong Qin Ming Luo Dongshuai Li Krystallia Dimitriadou Jiuhou Lei Nikolai Østgaard Victor Reglero Christoph Köhn |
| author_sort | Feifan Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Corona discharges in thundercloud tops are observed by the Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) as blue flashes at the 337 nm spectral line of N2 and by ground receivers as so‐called Narrow Bipolar Events (NBEs) in the radio signals. It has been suggested that the electromagnetic radiation from the discharges may be powerful enough to excite elves, the rapidly expanding rings of luminous emissions at the bottom ionosphere. Here we present optical observations by ASIM and simultaneous radio measurements by lightning receivers in China, that confirm this proposition. The concurrent measurements suggest that corona discharges at cloud tops generate elves observable by ASIM when the peak current exceeds ∼140 kA in absolute value, as estimated from the NBE measurements. The appearance of elves offers an alternate method to estimate the corona discharge currents and alignments at cloud tops, relevant to the characterization of chemical perturbations to greenhouse gas agents at the tropical tropopause. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-71b520e061fc4566b9c5fd9898e878b4 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-71b520e061fc4566b9c5fd9898e878b42025-08-20T01:48:15ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-03-01526n/an/a10.1029/2024GL114090Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting ThundercloudsFeifan Liu0Torsten Neubert1Olivier Chanrion2Ningyu Liu3Baoyou Zhu4Gaopeng Lu5Fanchao Lyu6Zilong Qin7Ming Luo8Dongshuai Li9Krystallia Dimitriadou10Jiuhou Lei11Nikolai Østgaard12Victor Reglero13Christoph Köhn14CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment School of Earth and Space Sciences University of Science and Technology of China Hefei ChinaNational Space Institute Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) Kongens Lyngby DenmarkNational Space Institute Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) Kongens Lyngby DenmarkDepartment of Physics and Astronomy Space Science Center University of New Hampshire Durham NH USACAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment School of Earth and Space Sciences University of Science and Technology of China Hefei ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment School of Earth and Space Sciences University of Science and Technology of China Hefei ChinaKey Laboratory of Transportation Meteorology of China Meteorological Administration Nanjing Joint Institute for Atmospheric Sciences Nanjing ChinaShenzhen Institute of Meteorological Innovation Shenzhen ChinaShenzhen Institute of Meteorological Innovation Shenzhen ChinaNational Space Institute Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) Kongens Lyngby DenmarkNational Space Institute Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) Kongens Lyngby DenmarkCAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment School of Earth and Space Sciences University of Science and Technology of China Hefei ChinaBirkeland Centre for Space Science Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen NorwayImage Processing Laboratory University of Valencia Valencia SpainNational Space Institute Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) Kongens Lyngby DenmarkAbstract Corona discharges in thundercloud tops are observed by the Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) as blue flashes at the 337 nm spectral line of N2 and by ground receivers as so‐called Narrow Bipolar Events (NBEs) in the radio signals. It has been suggested that the electromagnetic radiation from the discharges may be powerful enough to excite elves, the rapidly expanding rings of luminous emissions at the bottom ionosphere. Here we present optical observations by ASIM and simultaneous radio measurements by lightning receivers in China, that confirm this proposition. The concurrent measurements suggest that corona discharges at cloud tops generate elves observable by ASIM when the peak current exceeds ∼140 kA in absolute value, as estimated from the NBE measurements. The appearance of elves offers an alternate method to estimate the corona discharge currents and alignments at cloud tops, relevant to the characterization of chemical perturbations to greenhouse gas agents at the tropical tropopause.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL114090narrow bipolar eventselveslightningtransisten lumious eventsblue dischargeslower ionosphere |
| spellingShingle | Feifan Liu Torsten Neubert Olivier Chanrion Ningyu Liu Baoyou Zhu Gaopeng Lu Fanchao Lyu Zilong Qin Ming Luo Dongshuai Li Krystallia Dimitriadou Jiuhou Lei Nikolai Østgaard Victor Reglero Christoph Köhn Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds Geophysical Research Letters narrow bipolar events elves lightning transisten lumious events blue discharges lower ionosphere |
| title | Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds |
| title_full | Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds |
| title_fullStr | Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds |
| title_short | Ionospheric Elves Powered by Corona Discharges in Overshooting Thunderclouds |
| title_sort | ionospheric elves powered by corona discharges in overshooting thunderclouds |
| topic | narrow bipolar events elves lightning transisten lumious events blue discharges lower ionosphere |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL114090 |
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