Search results for "lightning"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
A Simultaneous Observation of Lightning by ASIM, Colombia-Lightning Mapping Array, GLM, and ISS-LIS
2021
The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on the International Space Station (ISS) provides optical radiances and images of lightning flashes in several spectral bands. This work presents a lightning flash simultaneously observed from space by ASIM, the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and the Lightning Imaging Sensor on the International Space Station (ISS-LIS); and from ground by the Colombia-Lightning Mapping Array (Colombia-LMA). Volumetric weather radar provides reflectivity data to help to interpret the effects of the cloud particles on the observed optical features. We found that surges in radiance in the band at 777.4 nm appear to be related mostly with lightning processe…
Investigation of the skin lesions in lightning strike death
2021
Lightning strike-related deaths are unusual, and the victim bodies can present different lesions due to the different injury mechanisms associated with this event. Since the post mortem assessment can be challenging, the evaluation of the characteristics of the skin lesions becomes fundamental to reconstruct the event. Due to the paucity of literature on this topic, the authors report the case of a 59-year-old man found dead near his home after a thunderstorm. Initially considered a murder by gunshot, the autopsy revealed the typical lightning strike lesions, also known as Lichtenberg figures. The adequate interpretation of the autopsy data and the histological evidences allowed to reconstr…
Comparison of high‐speed optical observations of a lightning flash from space and the ground
2020
We analyze a nighttime negative cloud-to-ground lightning flash in Colombia observed from the ground with a high-speed camera at 5,000 images per second and from space by the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on the International Space Station (ISS), the Lightning Imaging Sensor also on the ISS (ISS-LIS), and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on GOES-16. The space instruments measure the oxygen band at 777.4 nm, allowing for direct comparisons of measurements, and the ground-based camera observes in a wide visible band. After conversion to energy emitted at the cloud top, we find a good linear correspondence of the optical energies measured by the three space instruments, …
The Modular X- and Gamma-Ray Sensor (MXGS)of the ASIM Payload on the International Space Station
2019
The Modular X- and Gamma-ray Sensor (MXGS) is an imaging and spectral X- and Gamma-ray instrument mounted on the starboard side of the Columbus module on the International Space Station. Together with the Modular Multi-Spectral Imaging Assembly (MMIA) (Chanrion et al. this issue) MXGS constitutes the instruments of the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) (Neubert et al. this issue). The main objectives of MXGS are to image and measure the spectrum of X- and γ-rays from lightning discharges, known as Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs), and for MMIA to image and perform high speed photometry of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) and lightning discharges. With these two instruments sp…
Simultaneous Observations of EIP, TGF, Elve, and Optical Lightning
2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Spectral Analysis of Individual Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes Detected by ASIM
2021
The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is the first instrument in space specifically designed to observe terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). TGFs are high energy photons associated with lightning flashes and we perform the spectral analysis of 17 TGFs detected by ASIM. The TGF sample is carefully selected by rigorous selection criteria to keep a clean sample suitable for spectral analysis, that is, suitable count statistics, low instrumental effects, and reliable source location. Monte Carlo modeling of individual TGFs has been compared to the observed energy spectra to study the possible source altitudes and beaming geometries. A careful model of the instrumental effects has be…
First 10 Months of TGF Observations by ASIM
2019
The Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) was launched to the International Space Station on 2 April 2018. The ASIM payload consists of two main instruments, the Modular X‐ray and Gamma‐ray Sensor (MXGS) for imaging and spectral analysis of Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes (TGFs) and the Modular Multi‐spectral Imaging Array for detection, imaging, and spectral analysis of Transient Luminous Events and lightning. ASIM is the first space mission designed for simultaneous observations of Transient Luminous Events, TGFs, and optical lightning. During the first 10 months of operation (2 June 2018 to 1 April 2019) the MXGS has observed 217 TGFs. In this paper we report several unprecedented m…
Finite difference time domain simulation of soil ionization in grounding systems under lightning surge conditions
2004
This paper proposes a Maxwell’s equations finite difference time domain (FDTD) approach for electromagnetic transients in ground electrodes in order to take into account the non linear effects due to soil ionization. A time variable soil resistivity method is used in order to simulate the soil breakdown, without the formulation of an initial hypothesis about the geometrical shape of the ionized zone around the electrodes. The model has been validated by comparing the computed results with available data found in technical literature referred to concentrated earths. Some application examples referred to complex grounding systems are reported to show the computational capability of the propos…
The Emission of Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes From Encountering Streamer Coronae Associated to the Breakdown of Lightning Leaders
2020
Terrestrial gamma‐ray flashes (TGFs) are beams of high‐energy photons associated to lightning. These photons are the bremsstrahlung of energetic electrons whose origin is currently explained by two mechanisms: energizing electrons in weak, but large‐scale thundercloud fields or the acceleration of low‐energy electrons in strong, but localized fields of lightning leaders. Contemporary measurements by the Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor suggest that the production of TGFs is related to the leader step and associated streamer coronae when upwards moving intracloud lightning illuminates. Based on these observations, we apply a particle‐in‐cell Monte Carlo code tracing electrons in the sup…
A terrestrial gamma-ray flash and ionospheric ultraviolet emissions powered by lightning.
2020
Gamma-ray flash from a lightning leader Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) are millisecond pulses of gamma rays produced by thunderstorms. Neubert et al. observed a TGF from above, using instruments on the International Space Station. High-speed photometry in optical, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma-ray bands allowed them to determine the sequence of events that produced the TGF. Emission from an intracloud lightning leader was followed within a millisecond by the TGF. The subsequent lightning flash produced an electromagnetic pulse, which induced expanding waves of ultraviolet emission in the ionosphere above the thunderstorm, called an elve. The authors conclude that high electric fields …