A plasmachemical axially symmetric self-consistent model of daytime sprite

Abstract. The paper presents the results of self-consistent axially symmetric modelling of a daytime sprite. Perturbations of the concentrations of ions, neutral compounds, excited atoms and molecules along with disturbances of the atmospheric conductivity and electric field due to the initiation of a daytime sprite are studied. It is shown that in daytime conditions a sprite develops in the altitude range between 50 and 70 km, which is approximately 20 km lower than the range of a typical nighttime sprite. The uncompensated charge of a parent flash is typically characterized by the impulse charge moment (ICM) of several thousands of C · km; in the modelling of a daytime sprite ICM values are assumed to lie in the range of 2000–4000 C · km. It is shown that the behaviour of the system can be described by two scenarios, with and without a rapid increase in electron concentration, which are studied in detail by assuming ICM values of 3750 C · km and 2750 C · km respectively. During a discharge with an ICM of 2750 C · km, the decrease in the concentration of electrons in the electric field is caused by their attachment to molecular oxygen, and no sharp increase in electron concentration occurs; the concentrations of the most significant ions and electrons reach unperturbed values in less than a second. For an ICM of 3750 C · km, an initial decrease in the electron concentration is followed by the formation of an avalanche of electrons characterized by an increase in their concentration by more than an order of magnitude relative to the initial value. A slight decrease in the electric field leads to another sharp decrease in the electron concentration; then relaxation of the ion concentration makes the electron concentration increase, but it is not before about one second after the discharge that the latter once again reaches the maximum value attained during the avalanche, and then it does not change much for several tens of second. A rapid increase in electron concentration occurs in the central part of a sprite, leading to the conductivity disturbance and rapid displacement of the electric field. As a result of this study, the possibility of the initiation of a daytime sprite by an extremely intense lightning discharge leading to a significant long-term perturbation of atmospheric chemical balance is demonstrated.