TY - JOUR
T1 - First detection of transient luminous events associated with winter thunderstorms in the eastern Mediterranean
AU - Ganot, Michal
AU - Yair, Yoav
AU - Price, Colin
AU - Ziv, Baruch
AU - Sherez, Yosef
AU - Greenberg, Eran
AU - Devir, Adam
AU - Yaniv, Roy
PY - 2007/6/28
Y1 - 2007/6/28
N2 - During the winter of 2005-6, optical ground-based observations were performed to detect transient luminous events (TLEs) above winter thunderstorms in the vicinity of Israel and the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. Two sites were used: the Tel Aviv University (TAU) campus in Tel-Aviv (32.5N, 34.5E) and the Wise astronomical observatory in the Negev desert (30.6N, 34.76E). We also conducted ELF and VLF electromagnetic measurements from the TAU array in southern Israel. In 4 different winter storms we detected 30 events: 26 sprites and 4 elves. The detection ranges varied from 250 to 450 km. Sprites were found to be produced exclusively by +CGs that can be traced to active cells with a vertical dimension of 5-7 km and cloud top temperature ∼-40°C, embedded in a much larger matrix of stratiform cloudiness. This configuration closely resembles the conditions for winter sprites in the Hokuriku region of Japan.
AB - During the winter of 2005-6, optical ground-based observations were performed to detect transient luminous events (TLEs) above winter thunderstorms in the vicinity of Israel and the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. Two sites were used: the Tel Aviv University (TAU) campus in Tel-Aviv (32.5N, 34.5E) and the Wise astronomical observatory in the Negev desert (30.6N, 34.76E). We also conducted ELF and VLF electromagnetic measurements from the TAU array in southern Israel. In 4 different winter storms we detected 30 events: 26 sprites and 4 elves. The detection ranges varied from 250 to 450 km. Sprites were found to be produced exclusively by +CGs that can be traced to active cells with a vertical dimension of 5-7 km and cloud top temperature ∼-40°C, embedded in a much larger matrix of stratiform cloudiness. This configuration closely resembles the conditions for winter sprites in the Hokuriku region of Japan.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38849101648&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2007GL029258
DO - 10.1029/2007GL029258
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AN - SCOPUS:38849101648
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 34
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 12
M1 - L12801
ER -