Structure of Energy Precipitation Induced by Superbolt‐Lightning Generated Whistler Waves

Abstract

AbstractLightning superbolts are unusually intense lightning strokes. It has been well known that lightning can induce electron precipitation through the whistler waves it generates, but the characteristic of such precipitation in the extreme case of a superbolt has not yet been investigated. In this work, we use the numerical method developed by Bortnik et al. (2006a, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005ja011182, 2006b, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005ja011398) to model the precipitation induced by a superbolt event reported by Ripoll et al. (2021, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467021237406). The modeled frequency spectrum agrees well with in situ measurements, adding confidence to the model performance. The precipitation flux is decomposed into contributions from different frequency components and different resonance types, thus revealing the underlying structure of the precipitation. The temporal signature of global precipitation on the ground surface is produced for potential comparison with observations by upcoming satellite missions.