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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Height Determination of a Blue Discharge Observed by ASIM/MMIA on the International Space Station
AU - Bai, Xue
AU - Füllekrug, Martin
AU - Chanrion, Olivier
AU - Soula, Serge
AU - Peverell, Adam
AU - Mashao, Dakalo
AU - Kosch, Michael
AU - Husbjerg, Lasse
AU - Østgaard, Nikolai
AU - Neubert, Torsten
AU - Reglero, Victor
PY - 2023/4/16
Y1 - 2023/4/16
N2 - We analyze simultaneous photometric observations of thundercloud discharges from the Modular Multispectral Imaging Array of the Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on board the International Space Station with ground‐based vertical electric field measurements in South Africa on 3 February 2019 at 23:00–23:05 UTC. During this time, ASIM flew over an extended thunderstorm front of several hundreds of kilometers and recorded a blue discharge with the photometer at 337 nm which emitted strong electric fields. It is found that the rising edge of the blue photomultiplier tube light pulse allows the estimation of the blue discharge height: ∼10.9–16.5 km which is constrained by cloud top height in a range of ∼13.3–16.7 km deduced from infrared radiometry on board the geostationary Meteosat satellite. The electric field measurements are used to infer the height of the blue discharge to be ∼16.0–18.8 km by use of skywave arrival times. It is shown that the height determinations are consistent with each other within the measurement uncertainties and the possible presence of an overshooting cloud top is discussed. The height of blue discharges is important to better understand how they can affect the chemistry in the upper troposphere.
AB - We analyze simultaneous photometric observations of thundercloud discharges from the Modular Multispectral Imaging Array of the Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on board the International Space Station with ground‐based vertical electric field measurements in South Africa on 3 February 2019 at 23:00–23:05 UTC. During this time, ASIM flew over an extended thunderstorm front of several hundreds of kilometers and recorded a blue discharge with the photometer at 337 nm which emitted strong electric fields. It is found that the rising edge of the blue photomultiplier tube light pulse allows the estimation of the blue discharge height: ∼10.9–16.5 km which is constrained by cloud top height in a range of ∼13.3–16.7 km deduced from infrared radiometry on board the geostationary Meteosat satellite. The electric field measurements are used to infer the height of the blue discharge to be ∼16.0–18.8 km by use of skywave arrival times. It is shown that the height determinations are consistent with each other within the measurement uncertainties and the possible presence of an overshooting cloud top is discussed. The height of blue discharges is important to better understand how they can affect the chemistry in the upper troposphere.
KW - Climate and Dynamics
KW - ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES
KW - Atmospheric electricity
KW - Lightning
KW - RADIO SCIENCE
KW - Electromagnetic noise and interference
KW - Research Article
KW - lightning
KW - blue discharge
KW - electromagnetic noise
KW - microphysics
KW - atmospheric electricity
KW - thunderstorm
U2 - 10.1029/2022jd037460
DO - 10.1029/2022jd037460
M3 - Journal article
VL - 128
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
SN - 0747-7309
IS - 7
M1 - e2022JD037460
ER -