HR: 1340h
AN: AE23A-0996    [Abstracts]
TI: High Speed Imagery of Elves and Halos
AU: * King, A D
EM: C06Adam.King@usafa.edu
AF: United States Air Force Academy, 2354 Fairchild Dr, Suite 2A31, U S A F Academy, CO 80841 United States
AU: McHarg, M G
EM: Matthew.McHarg@usafa.af.mil
AF: United States Air Force Academy, 2354 Fairchild Dr, Suite 2A31, U S A F Academy, CO 80841 United States
AU: Kammae, T
EM: tkammae@gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PO Box 757320, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Nielsen, H
EM: hnielsen@gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PO Box 757320, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: Elves are thought to be the optical emission associated with EMP released by lightning discharges, Inan et al., GRL 23 (2), 1996. In contrast, sprite halos are associated with the emission from quasi-electrostatic heating associated streamer formation in sprites, Barrington-Leigh et al. JGR 106(A2) 2001. Determination of whether the optical emission is associated with an elf or halo can be challenging; Barrington-Leigh et al. GRL 26, 1999 and Barrington-Leigh et al. JGR 106(A2) 2001. We report on observations made during July 2005 at the Langmuir Laboratory in New Mexico. We fielded a high speed Phantom 7 digital camera with a gated intensifier, successfully recording data up to 10,000 frames per second (fps). In this paper we compare the high speed imagery of elves and halos with the 30 fps scene camera for the same events. Out of 56 total events we observed in the high speed imagery, 23 had halos or elves. We compare our observations with current theory of halo and sprite spatial and temporal evolution.
DE: 0342 Middle atmosphere: energy deposition (3334)
DE: 0649 Optics (4264)
DE: 2423 Ionization processes (7823)
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005