Abstract
We present the first 3D triangulation of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) over Africa. The 6 TLEs were simultaneously observed in the middle atmosphere from Sutherland and Carnarvon in South Africa, separated by 192 km, during the 2019 sprites campaign. These two distinctive locations have low radio interference and are free from light pollution. The lightning times, locations, peak current, and polarities, which initiated the observed TLEs, were obtained from the South African Lightning Detection Network and Earth Networks Total Lightning Networks. We investigate the TLEs' altitude and horizontal displacement from their parent lightning strokes. TLEs appear approximately 12.5 to 49.3 km away from their parent lightning strokes. We found that TLE altitudes range from 29 to 92.6 km. The lightning electric field and peak current may be related to the displacement of TLEs and the TLEs' horizontal spread.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 686-693 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Advances in Space Research |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 27 Aug 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2023 |
Funding
This work was sponsored by the South African National Space Agency, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and the Royal Society (UK) grant NMG/R1/180252. DM, KM, and MF thank the sponsors for their support. The authors thank the South African Lightning Detection Networks and Earth Networks Total Lightning Networks for providing the lightning data.
Keywords
- Lightning electric field
- Lightning peak current
- Transient Luminous Events triangulation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Aerospace Engineering
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Geophysics
- Atmospheric Science
- Space and Planetary Science
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences