Andrew Mezentsev

Map of low-frequency electromagnetic noise in the sky

The Earths natural electromagnetic environment is disturbed by anthropogenic electromagnetic noise. Here we report the first results from an electromagnetic noise survey of the sky. The locations of electromagnetic noise sources are mapped on the hemisphere above a distributed array of wideband receivers that operate in a small aperture configuration. It is found that the noise sources can be localized at elevation angles up to ∼60° in the sky, well above the horizon. The sky also exhibits zones with little or no noise that are found toward the local zenith and the southwest of the array. These results are obtained by a rigorous analysis of the residuals from the classic dispersion relation for electromagnetic waves using an array analysis of electric field measurements in the frequency range from ∼20 to 250 kHz. The observed locations of the noise sources enable detailed observations of ionospheric modification, for example, caused by particle precipitation and lightning discharges, while the observed exclusion zones enable the detection of weak natural electromagnetic emissions, for example, from streamers in transient luminous events above thunderclouds.

Array analysis of electromagnetic radiation from radio transmitters for submarine communication

The array analyses used for seismic and infrasound research are adapted and applied here to the electromagnetic radiation from radio transmitters for submarine communication. It is found that the array analysis enables a determination of the slowness and the arrival azimuth of the wave number vectors associated with the electromagnetic radiation. The array analysis is applied to measurements of ∼20–24 kHz radio waves from transmitters for submarine communication with an array of 10 radio receivers distributed over an area of ∼1 km ×1 km. The observed slowness of the observed wave number vectors range from ∼2.7 ns/m to ∼4.1 ns/m, and the deviations between the expected arrival azimuths and the observed arrival azimuths range from ∼−9.7° to ∼14.5°. The experimental results suggest that it is possible to determine the locations of radio sources from transient luminous events above thunderclouds with an array of radio receivers toward detailed investigations of the electromagnetic radiation from sprites.

Electron acceleration above thunderclouds

The acceleration of electrons results in observable electromagnetic waves which can be used for remote sensing. Here, we make use of 4 Hz‐66 MHz radio waves emitted by two consecutive intense positive lightning discharges to investigate their impact on the atmosphere above a thundercloud. It is found that the first positive lightning discharge initiates a sprite where electrons are accelerated during the exponential growth and branching of the sprite streamers. This preconditioned plasma above the thundercloud is subsequently exposed to a second positive lightning discharge associated with a bouncing-wave discharge. This discharge process causes a re-brightening of the existing sprite streamers above the thundercloud and initiates a subsequent relativistic electron beam.

Variable phase propagation velocity for long-range lightning location system:Variable Velocity for Lightning Location

The electromagnetic wave propagation velocity at low radio frequencies is an important input parameter for lightning location systems that use time of arrival (TOA) method. This velocity is normally fixed at or near the speed of light. However, this study finds that the radio waves from two submarine communication transmitters at 20.9 kHz and 23.4 kHz exhibit phase propagation velocities that are ~0.51% slower and ~0.64% faster than the speed of light as a result of sky wave contributions and ground effects. Therefore, a novel technique with a variable phase propagation velocity is implemented for the first time in the TOA method, and applied to electric field recordings with a long baseline lightning location system that consists of four radio receivers in Western Europe. The lightning locations inferred from variable velocities improve the accuracy of locations inferred from a fixed velocity by ~0.89-1.06 km when compared to the lightning locations reported by the UK MetOffice. The normal distributions of the observed phase propagation velocities in small geographic areas are not centered at the speed of light. Consequently, representative velocities can be calculated for many small geographic areas to produce a velocity map over central France where numerous lightning discharges occurred. This map reflects the impact of sky waves and ground effects on the calculation of lightning locations as a result of the network configuration. It is concluded that the use of variable phase propagation velocities mitigates the influence of sky waves and ground effects in long range lightning location networks.

Relativistic electrons from sparks in the laboratory

Abstract Discharge experiments were carried out at the Eindhoven University of Technology in 2013. The experimental setup was designed to search for electrons produced in meter‐scale sparks using a 1 MV Marx generator. Negative voltage was applied to the high voltage (HV) electrode. Five thin (1 mm) plastic detectors (5 cm2 each) were distributed in various configurations close to the spark gap. Earlier studies have shown (for HV negative) that X‐rays are produced when a cloud of streamers is developed 30–60 cm from the negative electrode. This indicates that the electrons producing the X‐rays are also accelerated at this location, that could be in the strong electric field from counterstreamers of opposite polarity. Comparing our measurements with modeling results, we find that ∼300 keV electrons produced about 30–60 cm from the negative electrode are the most likely source of our measurements. A statistical analysis of expected detection of photon bursts by these fiber detectors indicates that only 20%–45% of the detected bursts could be from soft (∼10 keV) photons, which further supports that the majority of detected bursts are produced by relativistic electrons.

Mapping lightning in the sky with a mini array

Mini arrays are commonly used for infrasonic and seismic studies. Here we report for the first time the detection and mapping of distant lightning discharges in the sky with a mini array. The array has a baseline to wavelength ratio ∼4.2·10−2 to record very low frequency electromagnetic waves from 2 to 18 kHz. It is found that the mini array detects ∼69 lightning pulses per second from cloud-to-ground and in-cloud discharges, even though the parent thunderstorms are ∼900–1100 km away and a rigorous selection criterion based on the quality of the wavefront across the array is used. In particular, lightning pulses that exhibit a clockwise phase progression are found at larger elevation angles in the sky as the result of a birefringent subionospheric wave propagation attributed to ordinary and extraordinary waves. These results imply that long range lightning detection networks might benefit from an exploration of the wave propagation conditions with mini arrays.

Multipath Propagation of Low Frequency Radio Waves Inferred from High Resolution Array Analysis

The low frequency radio sky shows the locations of electromagnetic radio sources with a characteristic dilution of precision. Here we report a thorough high resolution analysis of radio waves from low frequency (∼20-150 kHz) radio communication transmitters which are recorded with a small aperture array of radio receivers during the day. It is found that the observed dilution of precision results from the array geometry of the radio receivers, a birefringent wave propagation and the correlated multipath propagation of low frequency radio waves. The influence of the array geometry on the dilution of precision is reduced by taking into account the impulse response of the array. This procedure reveals for the very first time the splitting of one single radio source into two distinct source locations separated by ∼0.2°-1.9° which result from a birefringent wave propagation. The two locations are yet more clearly identified by using the polarity of the modulated wave number vectors of the radio waves. This polarity is also used to quantify the dilution of precision arising from correlated multipath propagation which is discriminated against wave number fluctuations arising from the timing accuracy of the radio receivers. It is found that ∼69% of the wave number variability is of natural origin and ∼31% originates from the timing accuracy of the receivers. The wave number variability from correlated multipath propagation results in a standard deviation ∼2-8% relative to the source location. This compact measurement of correlated multipath propagation is used to characterize the uncertainty of source locations in the radio sky. The identification of correlated multipath propagation strongly suggests the existence of very fast processes acting on time scales <1 ms in the D-region ionosphere with physically meaningful effects on low frequency radio wave propagation. This important result has implications for practical applications in that the observed multipath propagation enables the determination of natural limits for the accuracy of navigation and lightning location methods using low frequency radio waves.

Radio emissions from double RHESSI TGFs

Abstract A detailed analysis of Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) is performed in association with World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) sources and very low frequency (VLF) sferics recorded at Duke University. RHESSI clock offset is evaluated and found to experience changes on the 5 August 2005 and 21 October 2013, based on the analysis of TGF‐WWLLN matches. The clock offsets were found for all three periods of observations with standard deviations less than 100 μs. This result opens the possibility for the precise comparative analyses of RHESSI TGFs with the other types of data (WWLLN, radio measurements, etc.) In case of multiple‐peak TGFs, WWLLN detections are observed to be simultaneous with the last TGF peak for all 16 cases of multipeak RHESSI TGFs simultaneous with WWLLN sources. VLF magnetic field sferics were recorded for two of these 16 events at Duke University. These radio measurements also attribute VLF sferics to the second peak of the double TGFs, exhibiting no detectable radio emission during the first TGF peak. Possible scenarios explaining these observations are proposed. Double (multipeak) TGFs could help to distinguish between the VLF radio emission radiated by the recoil currents in the +IC leader channel and the VLF emission from the TGF producing electrons.

Spectral Characteristics of VLF Sferics Associated With RHESSI TGFs

Abstract We compared the modeled energy spectral density of very low frequency (VLF) radio emissions from terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) with the energy spectral density of VLF radio sferics recorded by Duke VLF receiver simultaneously with those TGFs. In total, six events with world wide lightning location network (WWLLN) defined locations were analyzed to exhibit a good fit between the modeled and observed energy spectral densities. In VLF range the energy spectral density of the TGF source current moment is found to be dominated by the contribution of secondary low‐energy electrons and independent of the relativistic electrons which play their role in low‐frequency (LF) range. Additional spectral modulation by the multiplicity of TGF peaks was found and demonstrated a good fit for two TGFs whose VLF sferics consist of two overlapping pulses each. The number of seeding pulses in TGF defines the spectral shape in VLF range, which allows to retrieve this number from VLF sferics, assuming they were radiated by TGFs. For two events it was found that the number of seeding pulses is small, of the order of 10. For the rest of the events the lower boundary of the number of seeding pulses was found to be between 10 to 103.

Towards VLF radio tomography

Summary form only given. The electromagnetic environment of the Earth was recently explored with networks of radio receivers which are distributed over spatial scales from ~1×1-10×10 km2 (Mezentsev and Fullekrug, JGR, 2013, Fullekrug et al., SGeo, 2013). These networks were operated in an interferometric configuration to measure the ground and sky waves of 100 kHz radio waves from radio transmitters and lightning discharges. The key parameter for the interferometric signal processing is the frequency dependent slowness of the radio waves within the Earths atmosphere with respect to the speed of light in vacuum. Here we extend this interferometric signal processing into the Very-Low Frequency (VLF) range to actually measure the slowness of radio waves from submarine communication transmitters operating around ~20 kHz. The measured values are in good agreement with previously reported results. However, a more detailed analysis shows that the remaining residuals have a significant information content which enables an application of VLF radio tomography. Possible interpretations of the observed distortions of the radio wavefront will be discussed in light of the compelling measurements.