Generation of electrostatic emissions by lightning-induced whistler-mode radiation above thunderstorms

Data from two separate thunderstorm sounding rocket experiments - Thunderstorm-II (T-II), which involved two rockets, and Thunderstorm-III (T-III) - are compared. In both cases, the sounding rockets over-flew active storm cells, but the bottomside of the ionosphere had a lower density and was much more structured for the first experiment than for the second. Electric field measurements on the flight through a structured ionosphere (T-II) show a triggered emission that has a height variation with altitude that seems to track the lower hybrid resonance frequency (LHR). Theories and other experimental data are presented supporting the concept that LH waves can be stimulated by intense whistlers when density gradients are present, and we interpret these T-II data in just such a context. We believe these emissions may be responsible for the irregularities causing the remote-sensing phenomenon called explosive spread F. The T-III flight had no such height-dependent emissions, which we attribute to the smoothness of the medium during that flight. Curiously, long-lasting emissions also occurred during T-III, but at frequencies that were constants with height and harmonics of the cut-off frequency for the earth-ionosphere wave guide. To our knowledge, there is no existing theory against which to test the T-III emissions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.