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Science 25 August 1995:
Vol. 269. no. 5227, pp. 1088 - 1091
DOI: 10.1126/science.269.5227.1088
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Articles

Sprites, ELF Transients, and Positive Ground Strokes

Dennis J. Boccippio 1, Earle R. Williams 2, Stan J. Heckman 3, Walter A. Lyons 4, Ian T. Baker 4, and Robert Boldi 1

1 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
2 Parsons Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3 Phillips Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA 01731, USA.
4 Mission Research Corporation, ASTeR Division, Fort Collins, CO 80522, USA.

In two summertime mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), mesospheric optical sprite phenomena were often coincident with both large-amplitude positive cloud-to-ground lightning and transient Schumann resonance excitations of the entire Earth-ionosphere cavity. These observations, together with earlier studies of MCS electrification, suggest that sprites are triggered when the rapid removal of large quantities of positive charge from an areally extensive charge layer stresses the mesosphere to dielectric breakdown.

Submitted on December 23, 1994
Accepted on June 8, 1995


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Enhanced Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning in Thunderstorms Ingesting Smoke from Fires.
W. A. Lyons, T. E. Nelson, E. R. Williams, J. A. Cramer, and T. R. Turner (1998)
Science 282, 77-80
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