Observations by ASIM of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes accompanied by Elves
- 1University of Bergen, Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, Norway (ingrid.engeland@uib.no)
- 2Earth Networks, Germantown, MD, USA
- 3National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- 4INAF-OAS Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- 5University of Valencia, Spain
Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) are short and highly energetic bursts of photons, produced in association with lightning in thunderstorms. Elves are rapidly expanding rings of optical emissions, with radii of several hundred kilometers, produced when electromagnetic pulses from lightning hit the base of the ionosphere. The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) detects both TGFs and Elves, sometimes simultaneously. Here, we present a study of observations where TGFs are accompanied by Elves. The optical signatures from Elves are identified from measurements by the ASIM UV photometer. Using ground-based lightning location networks, we find associated sferic detections to these events, placing them mainly over oceans and in coastal regions. Using sferic detections by GLD360, we compare the peak currents of the lightning associated with the TGF-Elve pairs to peak currents associated with other TGFs detected by ASIM, as well as with lightning in general. We show that the TGFs accompanied by Elves are among the shorter TGFs detected by ASIM, and they are associated with very high peak currents of typically several hundred kA.
How to cite: Bjørge-Engeland, I., Østgaard, N., Mezentsev, A., Skeie, C. A., Sarria, D., Lapierre, J., Lindanger, A., Neubert, T., Marisaldi, M., Lehtinen, N., Chanrion, O., Ullaland, K., Yang, S., Genov, G., Christiansen, F., and Reglero, V.: Observations by ASIM of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes accompanied by Elves, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9085, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9085, 2022.