Unusual Electromagnetic Signatures of European North Atlantic Winter Thunderstorms

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Santolík, Ondřej, Kolmašová, Ivana
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
• Subjects: Article; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5655673/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29066832; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13849-4

All lightning strokes generate electromagnetic pulses –atmospherics– which can travel over distances of thousands of kilometers. Night-side atmospherics show typical frequency dispersion signatures caused by sub-ionospheric propagation. Their analysis can be used to determine the distance to the source lightning, and therefore it represents a safe tool for investigation of distant thunderstorms, as well as for indirect observations of the lower ionosphere. However, such analysis has never been done on the dayside. Here we present the first results which show unusual daytime atmospherics with dispersion signatures originating from strong thunderstorms which occurred during winter months 2015 in the North Atlantic region. Using newly developed analysis techniques for 3-component electromagnetic measurements we are able to determine the source azimuth and to attribute these rare atmospherics to both positive and negative lightning strokes in northern Europe. We consistently find unusually large heights of the reflective ionospheric layer which are probably linked to low fluxes of solar X rays and which make the dayside subionospheric propagation possible. Although the atmospherics are linearly polarized, their dispersed parts exhibit left handed polarization, consistent with the anticipated continuous escape of the right-hand polarized power to the outer space in the form of whistlers.