Electrical conductivity in sprite streamer channels

We study the electrical conductivity of a sprite streamer channel at three different altitudes (63 km, 70 km and 80 km). We discuss the hypothesis that the electrical conductivity stays constant along the full length of a streamer channel, contrary to expectations based on scaling laws. We then apply this hypothesis and extrapolations from a numerical electrodynamical simulation to study the air plasma kinetics after the passage of a streamer. We test two possible scenarios for the physical origin of trailing sprite emissions: a single pulse and a single pulse with a delayed re-enhancement of the electric field up to the breakdown value. Our simulations show that VLF observations agree with persistent electric fields in the sprite that last several milliseconds and that associative detachment of O- ions may significantly affect the atmospheric conductivity in the presence of sprites. Citation: Gordillo-Vazquez, F. J., and A. Luque (2010), Electrical conductivity in sprite streamer channels, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L16809, doi:10.1029/2010GL044349.