Global transients in ultraviolet and red‐infrared ranges from data of Universitetsky‐Tatiana‐2 satellite

Abstract

Light detectors sensitive to wavelength ranges 240–400 nm and beyond 610 nm (which we refer to, for simplicity, as the UV and Red bands) on board Universitetsky‐Tatiana‐2 satellite have detected transient flashes in the atmosphere of duration 1–128 ms. Measured ratio of the number of Red photons to the number of UV photons indicates that source of transient radiation is at high atmosphere altitude (>50 km). Distribution of events with various photon numbers Qa in the atmosphere found to be different for “luminous” events Qa = 1023 – 1026 (with exponent of differential distribution –2.2) and for “faint” events Qa = 1021 – 1023 (with exponent − 0.97). Luminous event parameters (atmosphere altitude, energy released to radiation, and temporal profiles) are similar to observed elsewhere parameters of transient luminous events (TLE) of elves, sprites, halo, and gigantic blue jets types. Global map of luminous events demonstrates concentration to equatorial zones (latitudes 30°N to 30°S) above continents. Faint events (with number of photons Qa = 1020 – 5⋅ 1021) are distributed more uniformly over latitudes and longitudes. Phenomenon of series of transients registered every minute along satellite orbit (from 3 to 16 transients in one series) was observed. Most TLE‐type events belonged to series. Single transients are in average fainter than serial ones. Some transients belonging to series occurs far away of thunderstorm regions. Origin of faint single transients is not clear; several hypothetical models of their production are discussed.