Abstract
Blue electric streamer discharges in the upper reaches of thunderclouds are observed as flashes of 337.0 nm (blue) with faint or no emissions of 777.4 nm (red). Analyzing 3 years of measurements by the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor on the International Space Station, we find that their distribution in rise time falls into two categories. One with fast rise times of 30 mu s or less that are relatively unaffected by cloud scattering and emanate from within similar to 2 km of the cloud tops, and another with longer rise times from deeper within the clouds. 50% of cells generating shallow events are associated with overshooting tops compared to 34% of cells generating deeper events. The median Convective Available Potential Energy of the cells is similar to 70% higher for the shallow events and similar to 38% higher for the deeper events than for lightning cells, suggesting the discharges are favored by strongly convective environments.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2022GL099064 |
Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | 12 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISSN | 0094-8276 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 28 Jun 2022 |
Keywords
- atmospheric lightning
- blue discharges
- overshooting top
- convection
- ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES
- LUMINOUS EVENTS
- TOPS