Characterization of Lighting which Produces Mesospheric Transient Luminous Events (Sprites and Elves)

红色精灵、蓝色喷流和精灵等瞬变发光事件是新发现的将对流层电活动与平流层和中间层联系起来的现象。这些现象几乎总是与正云对地闪电有关，这种闪电发生的频率比带负电的闪电要少。已知有两种主要的风暴类型产生正闪电，即超级单体风暴和夜间中尺度对流系统。2000年初夏在堪萨斯州西部进行的STEPS项目(SevereThree Storm带电和降水研究)将提供有关这些风暴类型的广泛信息，包括双多普勒和偏振雷达观测、飞机微物理测量、高分辨率闪电地图和气球上的电场测量。这项研究项目通过使用光学、声学和无线电方法记录和描述风暴上方的TLE，为STEP做出了贡献。目标是确定产生TLE的风暴和不产生TLE的风暴之间的物理差异。这些数据还将被用来确定在遥远地点进行的舒曼共振测量在多大程度上可以检测到精灵和精灵。

Transient luminous events (TLEs) such as red sprites, blue jets, and elves are newly discovered phenomena that link tropospheric electrical activity with the stratosphere and mesosphere. These phenomena are almost always associated with positive cloud-to-ground lightning, which occurs less frequently than negatively charged lightning. Two major storm types are known to produce positive lightning, namely supercell storms and nocturnal mesoscale convective systems. The STEPS project (SevereThunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study), conducted in western Kansas in the early summer of 2000, will provide extensive information on these storm types, including dual-Doppler and polarimetric radar observations, aircraft microphysical measurements, high-resolution lightning maps, and balloon-borne measurements of the electrical field. This research project contributes to STEPS by documenting and characterizing TLEs above the storms using optical, acoustical, and radio methods. The goal is to determine the physical differences between storms that produce TLEs and those that do not. The data will also be used to determine to what extent Schumann resonance measurements at sites far away can detect sprites and elves.