LEONA: TRANSIENT LUMINOUS EVENT AND
THUNDERSTORM HIGH ENERGY EMISSION
COLLABORATIVE NETWORK IN LATIN AMERICA
Fernanda São Sabbas – [email protected]
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – INPE, Brazil
TRANSIENT LUMINOUS EVENTS: SUMMARY
TRANSIENT LUMINOUS EVENTS: GLOBAL RATES

ISUAL: Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning onboard
FORMOSAT-2 satellite
1 sprite/minute
35 elves/minute
(d) Global lightning distribution
1 halo/minute
Adapted from Chen et al. [2008]
Adapted Courtesy: Caitano da Silva
HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF SOUTH AMERICA UP TO DATE

1991: First TLE observations over South America

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1995: First airplane observations of sprites over Peru


Result from international effort: UW, INPE, UAF, USU
2005: First observations of TLEs above Argentina


University of Alaska Peru95 Campaign
2002/2003: First sprite observation and campaign in Brazil


Space Shuttle, Mesoscale Lightning Experiment – MLE, STS-43 mission
University of Alaska Chile2005 Campaign (from Cerro Tololo)
2005-2008: DEELUMINOS Project / FAPESP grant
DEELUMINOS: Electromagnetic Energy Deposition in the Upper
Atmosphere Signaled by Sprites and Other Transient Luminous Events
 5 TLE campaigns in Brazil
 International and national collaborations


2012: Start of ACATMOS team and LEONA


ACATMOS: Atmospheric Electrodynamical Coupling team:
LEONA: TLE and Thunderstorm High Energy Emission Collaborative
Network in Latin America
SUMMARY OF TLE CAMPAIGNS
SAMA
2002/ 2003: 18 sprites
2006 A: >400 TLEs
TLEs
2007: 46 sprites
2005: 11 TLEs
2006 P: ~100
2008: ~20 TLEs
Figures courtesy: Rodrigo Azambuja
LEONA

Initial Collaboration team

Brazil:



Peru:




National University of Cordoba – NUC
Astronomy and space Physics Institute - CONICET
Russia:


Jicamarca Radio Observatory – JRO, Peru
Argentina:


National Institute for Space Research – INPE (PI institution)
Instituto Tecnológico SIMEPAR
Lebedev Physical Institute – LPI, Russian Academy of Science
???
(You are invited to join!)
Research Interests:
•
TLE and High Energy Emissions related to Thunderstorms (HEET) spatial distribution
and climatology in Latin America: not measured by satellites
•
Ionospheric effects of lightning and TLEs in the ionosphere: e.g. Jicamarca and Julia
Observatories
•
Possible relationship with other phenomena: e.g. connection with gravity waves, high
energy particle precipitation in SAMA
•
•
•
HEET and TLE measurements in coordination with Auger measurements ???
Discovery of other optical phenomena ???
???
(Other interesting topics are very welcome!)
TLE OBSERVATION EQUIPMENT
Necessidades:
- Local afastado das luzes da
cidade
- Boa visibilidade no
horizonte
- Céu claro no local
- Segurança
- Eletricidade
- Internet
Pan-titl controller (black) and
pan-tilt with camera enclosures,
for remote operation.
Câmera CMOS intensificada de
alta velocidade
(até 67 mil fps)
Manualy oerated high-speed instensfied video cameras
(60,000 fps and more) for campaigns.
Remotely controlled video
EMCCD cameras (30 fps)
LEONA INITIAL COVERAGE
LEONA Target Thunderstorms
Third Campaign MCS of 22-23/02/2006
MCS track
Third Campaign MCS of 22-23/02/2006
Third Campaign MCS of 22-23/02/2006
São Sabbas, F T et al., Observations of Prolific Transient
Luminous Event Production Above a Mesoscale Convective
System in Argentina during the Sprite2006 Campaign in Brazil.
J. Geophys. Res., 2010.
REQUIREMENTS FOR TLE OBSERVATION
Requirements
Auger
Observation site away from city lights (TLEs have low luminosity)
OK!
Nighttime observations only to do not damage equipment
OK!
Turn off all outdoors lights at the site during observations (sensitive
cameras and lights can obfuscate the TLEs)
Possible???
Clear sky on site (visible stars at low elevation) and thunderstorm ~200-800 km
away
OK!
Safety at the site
OK!
Internet connection:
-The cameras are operated remotely
-Compressed images need to be sent at near real time to the observer to
follow the TLE activity, and point the camera
-The TLE data locally stored needs to be sent to the storage server at
INPE after observations are done
Appropriated place to install camera with good visibility in the horizon/ low
elevation angle:
-Ideal: 360o unobstructed view
-Minimum: 180o unobstructed view centered on West direction
Technical support:
- A person to go check out the equipment in case there is any problem
Possible???
Possible???
(Visited
Cohihueco site
in July 2012, it
has minimum
requirement)
Possible???
LEONA TLE OBSERVATION AT AUGER
Requirements for Auger
Auger
A small place in the terrace of Cohihueco site or other to put to
camera
Possible???
A small area inside to place the controller/storage PC + nobreak
Possible???
Turn off all outdoors lights at the site during observations
(sensitive cameras and lights can obfuscate the TLEs)
Possible???
Power: 1000 W
Possible???
Safety at the site
Possible???
Internet connection:
-Ideal band 512 kb/s
-Realistic band 256 kb/s
-Minimum band 120 kb/s
Minimum technical support from Auger personnel
Possible???
Possible???
LATIN AMERICAN COLLABORATION FOR COBRAT
TLE AND HIGH ENERGY EMISSION MEASUREMENTS
ONBOARD LONG DURATION BALLOONS
Fernanda São Sabbas (on behalf of ACATMOS team)
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE