Particularly intense lightning discharges
can produce transient optical emissions above thunderstorms, denoted sprites,
elves and blue jets. Video recordings on board the Space Shuttle detected
spite occurrences in many areas around the world. These reports led to sprite
observations in North America, South America, Australia, Japan, and Europe.
Most recently, an upward lightning discharge was discovered in the tropics
near Puerto Rico and a nadir sprite observation was reported from the International
Space Station (ISS). More detailed space borne sprite observations during
the MEIDEX
experiment on board the Space Shuttle and from the ISUAL instrument on
the ROCSAT and TARANIS satellites will result in challenging data, which
require knowledge based capacity building by teaching efforts to support
the new experimental observations with improved statistical data analysis
and theoretical modelling.
During the past eleven years, far more than 100
contributions on sprites have been published in the scientific literature
and document the rapidly evolving new research area. The need for international
exchange platforms was quickly recognized and sprite sessions became a permanent
feature with a constantly growing number of contributions in the scientific
communities of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Union
of Radio Science (URSI), and the International Association of Geomagnetism
and Aeronomy (IAGA).
To get started in sprite research, a cited reference
search on papers in scientific magazines may be helpful:
* Franz et al., Science, 249, 48, 1990.
* Boccippio et al., Science, 269, 1088, 1995.
* Pasko et al., Nature, 416, 152, 2002.
* Su et al., Nature, 423, 974, 2003.
A review of the first years of sprite research is found in:
* Rodger, Reviews of Geophysics, 37, 317, 1999.
The Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics published two
special issues on sprite research:
* 'Effects of thunderstorm activity on the upper atmosphere and ionosphere',
60, 667-973, 1998,
* 'Sprites, elves and their global activities', 65(5), 499-659, 2003.
The idea for a summer school on sprites was born
during an informal meeting at Tohoku University in 2001, where a number of
young scientists gave extended lectures on the details of their scientific
work to interested colleagues.
During the 3rd European Science Foundation
(ESF) network SPECIAL
meeting in Cambridge, 2002, an
organizing committee
formed to attract support for a
NATO
Advanced Study institute
on Sprites, Elves and Intense Lightning Discharges, co-sponsored
by
ESF, the Research Training
Network (RTN)
CAL and
URSI.
The proposal was accepted by NATO in December 2002 and the Advanced
Study Institute took place in Corte, Corsica from July 24-31, 2004.
About 80 scientists attended this first summer school on sprites,
which happened to be a scientifically
excellent, exciting, social, and memorable event.
It is hoped that a similar meeting will take place in 3-4 years from now.
