Characteristics and applications of near-infrared emissions from lightning

Using the lightning spectra captured by a slitless spectrograph, the characteristics of near-infrared emissions from lightning are investigated. The results show that atomic lines in the near-infrared range are consistently strong and can be almost recorded during the whole luminous phase from the leader to the return stroke. OI 777.4 nm is persistently one of the strongest lines in the near-infrared range of lightning spectra. Moreover, by combining synchronous electric field information, the intensity of OI 777.4 nm is found to correlate well with the amplitude of the electric field change, and its waveform is consistent with the waveform of synchronous electric field change. It is concluded that the information of OI 777.4 nm recorded in the thunderstorm activities can be used to locate the lightning discharge processes, including counting the flashes, identifying discharge intensity, displaying spatial and temporal evolution of the discharge channel, and even presenting more details of discharge processes. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.