AE31A-0412
Lightning spectra at 100,000 fps
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Matthew G McHarg1, Harald E Edens2, Richard G. Sonnenfeld3, Jeff L Lapierre4, Kenneth Eack2, Ryan K Haaland5, Jacob Harley1 and Hans Stenbaek-Nielsen6, (1)United States Air Force Academy, Department of Physics, Colorado Springs, CO, United States, (2)New Mexico Tech, Langmuir Laboratory, Socorro, NM, United States, (3)New Mexico Tech, Physics, Socorro, NM, United States, (4)New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, United States, (5)Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO, United States, (6)University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States
Abstract:
A fundamental understanding of lightning can be inferred from the spectral emissions resulting from the leader and return stroke channel. We compare two events recorded at 00:58:07 and 03:19:19 UT on 19 July 2015 at Langmuir Laboratory. Lightning spectra were recorded using a 100 line per mm grating in front of a Phantom V2010 camera with an 85mm Nikon lens recording at 100,000 frames per second. Coarse resolution spectra (approximately 5nm resolution) are produced from approximately 400-800 nm for each frame. Electric field data from the Langmuir Electric Field Array for the 03:19:19 event show 10 V/m changes in the electric field associated with multiple return strokes visible in the spectral data. Lightning Mapping Array data at Langmuir for the 00:58:07 event show a complex flash extending 10 km in the East-West plane and 6 km in the North-South plane. The imagery data imply that this is a bolt-from-the-blue event.
