Hidden Habitats of Elves and Sprites in Space
What do elves and sprites have in common with jets and halos? Why—thunderstorms and space, of course! And if it were not for images received from the shuttles, the International Space Station, satellites and aircraft, their earlier research would never have been made available. Flashing brighter than the interior planet of Venus–a planet which completes its Sun orbit in a much shorter time than Earth–a large elf population has recently been discovered since their initial discover in 1989. Presently, 5,434 elves and 633 sprites have been counted during the past three years of study.
Considered the fairy kings of eternal space, space elves have shorter bursts than do the sprites, with elves and sprite halos similar enough in their short durations and similarity to have caused several mistakes in research over the past years. Meanwhile, the rare and unique larger blue jets during thunderstorms are different from sprites–projecting during thunderstorms from the top of the cumulonimbus—and considered much brighter. Unique within themselves, they are prominently trumpet-shaped.
Even more exciting is that “elf hotspots” are showing a good possibility of adding up to 5% increase to the electron density of the ionosphere, which quite possibly may interfere with navigation in addition to ground and space communication, according to elf and sprite expert Umran Inan of the Stanford University. With a three-year detailed guide survey of the elves, the science field now has found some pretty exciting details about these little spooks’s habitat of choice, filling the skies quickly in the ionosphere at heights of 60 miles for a brief millisecond moment—less than a thousandth of a second.
Appearing in shorter rippling red flashes in the upper atmosphere during thunderstorms than do sprites, which were previously in the number one position for research, the space elf is now top king of space—at least in the minds of researchers! With their exact whereabouts a hidden mystery to this day, this detailed survey is bringing science closer to their back door.
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Umran Inan of the Stanford University
Principal investigator on several research grants sponsored by Office of Naval Research (ONR), NSF Division of Polar Programs, NSF Division of Atmospheric Sciences, NASA Space Physics Division, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory. Current research projects include: (i) optical observations of high altitude plasma discharges and optical emissions known as sprites and elves, (ii) ground based VLF remote sensing of lightning-induced disturbances in ionospheric plasma and precipitation of energetic electrons at multiple sites across the United States, Canada and Antarctic, (iii) studies of HF radio wave heating of ionospheric plasma, (iv) interpretation of plasma wave and energetic particle data from low and high altitude satellites, (v) theoretical modeling of gyroresonant wave-particle interactions in the magnetosplasma, (vi) ELF/VLF observations of plasma waves at unmanned observatories in Antarctica and on ocean-based autonmous buoys, and (vii) investigations and computer simulation of energy efficieny of plasma display panels.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
