References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-11-7747-2011

Relativistic electron beams above thunderclouds

Füllekrug

¹ Roussel-Dupré

² Symbalisty

E. M. D.

³ Colman

J. J.

⁴ Chanrion

⁵ Soula

⁶ van der Velde

⁷ Odzimek

⁸ Bennett

A. J.

⁹ ¹¹ Pasko

V. P.

¹⁰ Neubert

⁵

University of Bath, Centre for Space and Atmospheric Research, Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Bath, UK

SciTech Solutions, Melbourne, Florida, USA

Atmospheric, Earth and Environment Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

Kirtland Airforce Base, USAF AFMC AFRL/RVBXP, New Mexico, USA

National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark

Laboratoire d'Aérologie, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Terrassa, Spain

Institute of Geophysics, Deptartment of Atmospheric Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

Passive Sensing, Met Office, Exeter, UK

Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, USA

also at: University of Bath, Centre for Space and Atmospheric Research, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Bath, UK

03 08 2011

11 15 7747 7754

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Non-luminous relativistic electron beams above thunderclouds have been detected by the radio signals of low frequency &sim;40–400 kHz which they radiate. The electron beams occur &sim;2–9 ms after positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharges at heights between &sim;22–72 km above thunderclouds. Intense positive lightning discharges can also cause sprites which occur either above or prior to the electron beam. One electron beam was detected without any luminous sprite which suggests that electron beams may also occur independently of sprites. Numerical simulations show that beams of electrons partially discharge the lightning electric field above thunderclouds and thereby gain a mean energy of &sim;7 MeV to transport a total charge of &sim;−10 mC upwards. The impulsive current &sim;3 × 10<sup>−3</sup> Am<sup>−2</sup> associated with relativistic electron beams above thunderclouds is directed downwards and needs to be considered as a novel element of the global atmospheric electric circuit.

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