Sprite Durations Measured With a Neuromorphic Sensor.

Neuromorphic sensors have inherently‐fast speeds and low data rates, which potentially make them ideal for the observation of transient sources, such as lightning and sprites. Particularly, for remote observations. In this article, we report the first observations of sprites from the ground with a neuromorphic sensor. These observations are accompanied by measurements with established instruments such as low‐light level and high‐frame rate cameras. We determine that neuromorphic sensors can capture sprites and determine their duration to an accuracy of roughly 6 ms. Average sprite durations were found to be 55 ms within our data set. We have also ascertained that sprites may be too dim for the neuromorphic sensors to resolve the internal spatiotemporal dynamics, at least without the aid of intensifiers. Plain Language Summary: Neuromorphic sensors are a relatively new tool with great potential for imaging transient sources. Neuromorphic sensors track light changes in individual pixels and only store information when the light intensity surpasses a pre‐set threshold, a design choice made with the intent of mimicking how the human eye works. Sprites and lightning are fast, transient light sources and, thus, are an ideal target to test this new technology. In this work, we report the first observations of sprites from the ground with a neuromorphic sensor, and compare these observations with recordings made with an established and well‐understood instrument: an intensified high‐speed camera. Our results show that there is a lot of promise in using this new technology for observation of sprites and lightning, particularly for autonomous, long‐duration observations. We conclude by speculating that the use of neuromorphic sensors in atmospheric sciences will grow substantially in the coming years. They will find many uses in autonomous optical instruments, such as employed for monitoring the aurora, atmospheric gravity waves, and bolide/fireball detection. Key Points: Fast speeds and low data rates potentially make neuromorphic cameras ideal for observation of sprites and lightningNeuromorphic sensors can measure sprite durations in good agreement with high frame rate camerasSprites are very dim making it challenging for the neuromorphic sensor to resolve their internal spatiotemporal dynamics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]