Toward Better Understanding of Sprite Streamers: Initiation, Morphology, and Polarity Asymmetry
Toward Better Understanding of Sprite Streamers: Initiation, Morphology, and Polarity Asymmetry
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DOI：
10.1007/s10712-013-9246-y
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发表时间：
2013-07
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
V. Pasko;J. Qin;S. Celestin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
V. Pasko;J. Qin;S. Celestin
本文综述了闪电在地球大气中层和电离层较低高度产生的瞬态发光事件（称为精灵和精灵晕）的建模研究的最新进展。主要重点放在从2010年开始至今在评审文献中出现的出版物上。调查的重点是对在精灵中观察到的形态特征的解释。我们介绍了用于定量描述电子雪崩的典型参数，并讨论了空间电荷效应在不同空间尺度上的重要性，包括子光晕（显示出10公里的横向范围）和子光带（需要亚米分辨率才能准确描述）。特别强调的是对高速视频观测中捕获的sprite streamers的启动和发展的解释，以及对与这些观测相关的最新建模工作的批判性审查。我们还讨论了在现有的精灵观测中极性不对称的基本原因，表明绝大多数具有良好流光结构的精灵是由正云对地闪电放电产生的。
This paper presents a literature survey on the recent developments related to modeling studies of transient luminous events termed sprites and sprite halos that are produced at mesospheric and lower ionospheric altitudes in the Earth’s atmosphere by lightning. The primary emphasis is placed on publications that appeared in the refereed literature starting from year 2010 and up to the present date. The survey focuses on the interpretation of morphological features observed in sprites. We introduce parameters typically used for quantitative description of electron avalanches and discuss the importance of space charge effects on different spatial scales, including sprite halos (exhibiting 10s of km transverse extents) and sprite streamers (requiring submeter resolution for accurate description). A special emphasis is placed on the interpretation of initiation and development of sprite streamers captured in high-speed video observations and a critical review of the most recent modeling efforts related to these observations. We also discuss fundamental reasons for polarity asymmetry in existing sprite observations indicating that vast majority of sprites with well-developed streamer structure are produced by positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharges.