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Heki (2011) reported that the Japanese Global Positioning System (GPS) dense network detected a precursory positive total electron content anomaly (TEC), with ΔTEC ~3 TECU, ~40 minutes before the Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mw 9.0). Similar preseismic TEC anomalies were also observed in the 2010 Chile earthquake (Mw 8.8), 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Mw 9.2) and the 1994 Hokkaido-Toho-Oki (Mw 8.3). In this paper we apply our improved lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere (LAI) coupling model to compute the TEC variations and compare the simulation results with the reported TEC observations. For the Tohoku-Oki earthquake simulations we assumed that the stressed associated current started ~40 minutes before the earthquake, linearly increased and reached its maximum magnitude at the time of the earthquake main shock. It is suggested that a dynamo current density of ~25 nA m-2 is required to produce the observed ΔTEC ~3 TECU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the recent developments in spectroimagers for sprite campaigns in Taiwan. We first introduce two types of spectroimagers, the slit and slitless types, and discuss their advantages and shortcomings. Next we explore the instrument development and procedures undertaken for this study. In 2006, a slit spectroimager was installed for a sprite campaign and on 15 August of that year, two sprite spectra were recorded using the slit spectroimager along with seven sprites, one halo, one ELVES emission and two jets. By the end of 2015, a slitless spectroimager had been successfully constructed and was ready to conduct additional investigations. On 7 May 2016, a sprite spectrum was recorded using the slitless spectroimager. Following an examination of the calibrations (comprising detection region field of view, wavelength calibration, and response curve), data analysis, and additional calibrations (comprising elevation and azimuthal angles, atmospheric transmittance, and theoretical wavelength calculations) performed in this study, we present the results from our observed sprite spectra using the slit and slitless spectroimagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ISUAL (Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning) is a scientific payload onboard the FORMOSAT2 satellite (FS2). This the first satellite project survey of global transient luminous events (TLEs) as one of the mission objectives. Since the ISUAL/FS2 launch in 2004, ISUAL has continuously monitored TLE occurrences over pre-midnight regions in the past ten plus years. As of December 2015, more than forty thousand TLEs, including the sub-species like elves, sprites, spritehalos, blue jets and gigantic jets, have been recorded from this space platform. In the meantime, as the supporting facilities to the space-borne ISUAL experiment, ground optical imagery systems have been deployed to observe TLEs occurring near Taiwan with several radio wave detection ground stations also installed to register lightningor TLE-related radio signals called sferics. From analyzing the observed events and the associated sferics, many TLE characteristics have been inferred. Among the most notable factors are the global distributions, the occurrence rates, and the charge injection and the energy impact to the upper atmosphere. In this article, the ISUAL payload, the auxiliary ground facilities and a few selected TLE survey results from the ISUAL mission are concisely presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL) has been operated for more than ten years. The onboard spectrophotometer channel-1 (SP1) was designed to detect the far-ultraviolet (FUV) emissions (N2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield band) from space. It was found that most of the transient luminous events (TLEs), such as sprites, halos, elves, and gigantic jets, are usually accompanied by FUV emissions. The FUV emission could be utilized as an indicator for searching TLEs because the FUV emission of lightning is severely attenuated in the atmosphere during propagation, although the TLE FUV emissions are still detectable. Furthermore, the elves FUV emission photon flux can also be used to estimate the parent lightning peak current. Therefore, SP1 sensitivity degradation assessment, which affects the observed intensity of FUV emissions, is important. Although ISUAL has a lightemitting diode (LED) which is preset as a standard light source, the emission wavelength range of the LED does not cover the FUV band. We established a method in this study to determine the ISUAL Imager and SP1 sensitivity degradation. We found that the annual degradation rates of the ISUAL Imager and the SP1 are 8.4 and 9.7%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 6 years, the ISUAL payload onboard the Taiwanese FORMOSAT-2 satellite has successfully carried out the primary mission of performing a global survey of transient luminous events (TLE) and lightning activities. The observation data have been used to construct the first global distribution map of TLEs and to infer their occurrence rates. To register dim TLE emissions at night, ISUAL employs electron-multiplying devices like a photomultiplier, multi-anode array, and micro-channel plate to intensify the photons emitted by transient events. These devices, however, will degrade gradually with age. The degradation rate and the performance change were monitored through periodic calibration observations and are investigated carefully in order to achieve precise photometry and accurate statistics. The annual degradation rates up to 14% were identified for some of the sensor elements. This paper presents the variations of instrument efficiencies and overall detection capabilities, before and after applying a gain-adjustment to compensate for sensor degradation. The resulting stable trend of the ISUAL trigger and lightning rates suggests that the bias from instrument degradation and gain adjustments is minimal. This point is also supported by the near constant sprite and halo detection rates deduced from different statistical temporal intervals. Hence, the anomalies in the ISUAL elve detection rate for 2008 ~ 2009 likely are due to the El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Forecast based on the ISUAL performance trend also indicates that the ISUAL sensors have sufficient sensitivity margins to operate efficiently until the end of 2013, or even beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]