Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsa51a0771t&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SA51A-0771
Physics
2435 Ionospheric Disturbances, 3304 Atmospheric Electricity, 3324 Lightning, 5405 Atmospheres: Composition And Chemistry, 5462 Polar Regions
Scientific paper
Lightning discharge is a phenomenon which reflects the dynamics and material characteristics in the planetary atmosphere. Charge separation in the thundercloud is considered to be caused mainly by frictions between ice crystal and hail, which are closely related to atmospheric motion especially for vertical convection. Recently it is found that the vertical electric field, which is maintained by the global electric circuit in which the lightning discharge plays an important role, shows high correlation with global surface temperature. This fact means that the lightning activity is an excellent quantitative indicator representing the activity of atmospheric convection. The recent imaging observations of lightning flash in Jupiter found a good coincidence between the lightning location and cumulonimbus, inferred from infrared images, as well as in Earth. From the analogies it is most probable that also on Venus the lightnings are generated mainly by the vertical convection and the global observation of lightning might be a good method to get information on the atmospheric activities and characteristics of cloud particle in the planet with a good time resolution. Especially, the lightning observation is expected to be a powerful in analysis of meso-scale atmospheric phenomena. The lightning in Venus might be similar to sprites or elves observed in the middle and upper atmosphere of the Earth. Since the distance between the cloud deck and the ground in Venus is considerably large (about 45 km) and the atmospheric pressure is quite high, the discharge from cloud top to the ionosphere may be more probable than cloud to ground discharge. The existence of Venus lightning has been still under controversy for almost 20 years regardless of extensive optical and plasma wave observations. We plan to install a lightning imager (LAC) at the Venus orbiter, which will be launched in 2007. Scientific targets and design of the instruments will be presented.
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