Sprites are bright, short-lived flashes which occur above thunderstorms in response to certain
kinds of big lightning discharges. They were first discovered in 1989, and many questions
remain as to what processes are involved in their creation. My sprite-related work has
focused on modeling the electromagnetic radiation from lightning to help determine why
certain lightning discharges create sprites. My group also tries to measure properties of the very biggest lightning discharges.
Some Sprite and Lightning Papers
-
van der Velde, O. A., W. A. Lyons, S. A. Cummer, T. E. Nelson, and J. Bunnell, Analysis of the first gigantic jet recorded over continental North America, J. Geophys. Res., v. 112, D20104, doi:10.1029/2007JD008575, 2007. [pdf reprint]
-
Hu W., S. A. Cummer, and W. A. Lyons, Testing sprite initiation theory using lightning measurements and modeled EM fields, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D13115, doi:10.1029/2006JD007939, 2007. [pdf reprint]
-
Cummer, S. A., H. U. Frey, S. B. Mende, R. Hsu, H. Su, A. B. Chen, H. Fukunishi, and Y. Takahashi (2006), Simultaneous radio and satellite optical measurements of high-altitude sprite current and lightning continuing current, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A10315, doi:10.1029/2006JA011809. [pdf reprint]
-
Cummer, S. A., N. Jaugey, J. Li, W. A. Lyons, T. E. Nelson, and E. A. Gerken, Submillisecond imaging of sprite development and structure, Geophys. Res. Lett., v. 33, L04104, doi:10.1029/2005GL024969, 2006. [pdf reprint]
-
Cummer, S. A., Y. Zhai, W. Hu, D. M. Smith, L. I. Lopez, and M. A. Stanley, Measurements and implications of the relationship between lightning and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 32, no. 8, L08811, doi:10.1029/2005GL022778, 2005. [pdf reprint]
Sprite and Lightning Links
Walt Lyons/FMA Research Sprite Homepage
Last update: December 20, 2007
|
