Chemical Activity of Low Altitude (50 km) Sprite Streamers
A three-stage simulation is used to explore the chemical influence of low altitude (50 km) sprite streamers on the atmosphere, including the chemical trail after the streamer has faded away. In the first stage (streamer phase) a 2D electrodynamical streamer model quantifies the generation of NO and...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2023 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/350203 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/350203 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Sprite discharge Streamer discharge Computational physics Mesospheric nitrous oxide Mesospheric ozone Mesospheric nitrogen oxides |
| Sumario: | A three-stage simulation is used to explore the chemical influence of low altitude (50 km) sprite streamers on the atmosphere, including the chemical trail after the streamer has faded away. In the first stage (streamer phase) a 2D electrodynamical streamer model quantifies the generation of NO and NO, and the removal of ozone (O) by a downward propagating streamer during Δt = 80 μs. This streamer propagation leads to a distinctive region in the streamer channel, the glow, where the electric field is enhanced. In the second stage (glow phase), the computed densities of the first stage are used as initial conditions for a 0D model to study the chemical evolution of the streamer channel, where we assume a remanent field of 100 Td for the glow and 0 Td elsewhere. This stage lasts Δt = 85 μs, the typical glow lifetime at 50 km. Finally, in the third stage (post-streamer phase), we use the same 0D model, switch off the field in the glow region and let the whole streamer wake evolve roughly 100 s (100 s − Δt). Results show a key species such as O is mainly depleted during the streamer phase while NO and NO are predominantly produced during the same phase. We also compute the local increase of NO by sprite streamers at ∼50 km and find out that it could account for the measurable NO anomaly over thunderstorms reported from satellite-based measurements. © 2023. The Authors. |
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