Abstract
This work is devoted to the theory development of the discharge phenomena called elves and sprites in the stratosphere and mesosphere initiated by tropospheric storm processes. The process of redistribution of charges in an atmosphere at altitudes up to 150 km during charging and discharging of a storm cloud is investigated at a quantitative level. An important role of the small electric conductivity of the stratosphere and mesosphere is shown. At the lightning discharge of a storm cloud, the area of the overcritical field appears under the ionosphere in which the avalanche ionization arises (elf). The avalanche ionization front instability causes the growth of large-scale perturbances, developing into an area of a subcritical field and initiating the system of subcritical streamer discharges. The account of the small electric conductivity of the atmosphere between the troposphere and the ionosphere has allowed explaining the long duration of discharge processes developing under the ionosphere, basically in the residual electrostatic polarization field.
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Acknowledgments
The author thanks Boris Khrenov, who has attracted his attention to the most interesting problem of the high-altitude discharges, and the participants of the theoretical department of General Physics Institute of RAS seminar, headed by Prof. A. A. Rukhadze, for constructive discussion.
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Khodataev, K.V. (2013). Discharge Processes in a Stratosphere and Mesosphere During a Thunderstorm. In: Bychkov, V., Golubkov, G., Nikitin, A. (eds) The Atmosphere and Ionosphere. Physics of Earth and Space Environments. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2914-8_5
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