Imaging of elves , halos and sprite initiation at 1 ms time resolution

Elves, halos and sprites were observed during August 1999 with a 1 ms high speed imager. The higher time resolution compared to conventional television cameras (17 or 20 ms) allowed excellent images of the three phenomena temporally separate from each other to be obtained. Analysis of images of elves and halos indicates that the causal lightning-generated electromagnetic pulse and quasi-electro static 6elds are homogeneous and any small-scale (sub-10 km) structure, if visible, is most likely due to a structured atmosphere. Observations of sprites initiated to the side of a halo, without a halo, and from beads left over from a previous sprite, respectively, all suggest sub-pixel (¡ 0:5 km) background structures in atmospheric pressure or composition as being the dominant factors in determining the sprite “seed” location, or site of sprite initiation. c © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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