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Multicolor Photometric Observation of Lightning from Space: Comparison with Radio MeasurementsThis study evaluates the effectiveness of spectrophotometric measurements from space in revealing properties of lightning flash. The multicolor optical waveform data obtained by FORMOSAT-2/Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL) were analyzed in relation to National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA). As of July 2011, we found six lightning events which were observed by ISUAL and North Alabama LMA. In two of these events, NLDN showed clear positive cloud-to-ground (CG) discharges with peak current of +139.9 kA and +41.6 kA and, around that time, LMA showed continuous intra-cloud (IC) leader activities at 4-6 km altitudes. ISUAL also observed consistent optical waveforms of the IC and CG components and, interestingly, it was found that the blue/red spectral ratio clearly decreased by a factor of 1.5-2.5 at the time of CG discharges. Other four lightning events in which NLDN did not detect any CG discharges were also investigated, but such a feature was not found in any of these cases. These results suggest that the optical color of CG component is more reddish than that of IC component and we explain this as a result of more effective Rayleigh scattering in blue light emissions coming from lower-altitude light source. This finding suggests that spectral measurements could be a new useful technique to characterize ICs and CGs from space. In this talk, we will also present a result from lightning statistical analysis of ISUAL spectrophotometric data and ULF magnetic data.
Document ID
20120002866
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Adachi, Toru (Stanford Univ. Stanford, CA, United States)
Cohen, Morris (Stanford Univ. Stanford, CA, United States)
Said, Ryan (Stanford Univ. Stanford, CA, United States)
Blakeslee, Richard J. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Cummer, Steven A. (Duke Univ. Durham, NC, United States)
Li, Jingbo (Duke Univ. Durham, NC, United States)
Lu, Geopeng (Duke Univ. Durham, NC, United States)
Hsu, Rue-Ron (National Cheng Kung Univ. Tainan, Taiwan, Province of China)
Su, Han-Tzong (National Cheng Kung Univ. Tainan, Taiwan, Province of China)
Chen, Alfred Bing-Chih (National Cheng Kung Univ. Tainan, Taiwan, Province of China)
Takahashi, Yukihiro (Hokkaido Univ. Hokkaido, Japan)
Frey, Harald U. (California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Mende, Stephen B. (California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
December 5, 2011
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
M11-0991
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2011 AGU Fall Meeting
Location: San Francisco, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: December 5, 2011
End Date: December 9, 2011
Sponsors: American Geophysical Union
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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