MEASUREMENTS OF LIGHTNING PARAMETERS FROM REMOTE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

摘要

For obvious reasons, optical measurements have played a crucial role in advancing our understanding of lightning-generated transient luminous events (TLEs) and the lightning-mesosphere-ionosphere coupling processes behind them. But while not as visually spectacular, measurements of the electromagnetic radiation produced by TLE-producing lightning and, special cases, the TLE itself have also revealed important information and insight into lightning-ionosphere coupling processes. Optical observations give a direct view into the processes that happen inside the phenomenon, and lightning-related electromagnetic measurements give a quantitative view into the processes that drive the phenomenon from below. Each by itself is valuable, but the combination of the two is probably the most powerful tool for TLE research.rnWe describe here the techniques involved in recording andanalyzing lightning-related electromagnetic fields, and briefly summarize the main scientific findings that have come from such analysis. We focus primarily on lightning measurements related to sprites because sprites are the best documented transient luminous event (TLE) and have been the most-studied from a lightning perspective.