Simulation of lightning spectra and diagnosis of lightning parameters

Abstract

Atomic spectral data for atoms and ions of nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen were calculated using flexible atomic code. Based on the Collisional Radiation Model (CRM), the lightning spectra taken by our group in the Qinghai region of China using a flawless slit spectrometer were simulated. When the simulated spectra match well with experiments, the matched electron temperature (Te), electron density (ne), and abundance (η) are determined, and can be treated as the lightning parameters. In addition, the entangled multiplet lines can introduce errors in the diagnosis of Te and ne in the Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) model. A fitting technique is proposed to effectively reduce these errors to generate the optimized Te and ne. The results indicate that the matched Te and ne in CRM are in precise agreement with the optimized one in LTE.