Initiation of a lightning search using the lightning and airglow camera onboard the Venus orbiter Akatsuki

Yukihiro Takahashi; Mitsuteru Sato; Masataka Imai; Ralph Lorenz; Yoav Yair; Karen Aplin; Georg Fischer; Masato Nakamura; Nobuaki Ishii; Takumi Abe; Takehiko Satoh; Takeshi Imamura; Chikako Hirose; Makoto Suzuki; George L Hashimoto; Naru Hirata; Atsushi Yamazaki; Takao M Sato; Manabu Yamada; Shin-Ya Murakami; Yukio Yamamoto; Tetsuya Fukuhara; Kazunori Ogohara; Hiroki Ando; Ko-Ichiro Sugiyama; Hiroki Kashimura; Shoko Ohtsuki

doi:10.1186/s40623-018-0836-2

Initiation of a lightning search using the lightning and airglow camera onboard the Venus orbiter Akatsuki

Earth Planets Space. 2018;70(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s40623-018-0836-2. Epub 2018 May 25.

Authors

Yukihiro Takahashi¹, Mitsuteru Sato¹, Masataka Imai¹, Ralph Lorenz², Yoav Yair³, Karen Aplin⁴, Georg Fischer⁵, Masato Nakamura⁶, Nobuaki Ishii⁶, Takumi Abe^{6

7}, Takehiko Satoh^{6

7}, Takeshi Imamura⁸, Chikako Hirose⁶, Makoto Suzuki⁶, George L Hashimoto⁹, Naru Hirata¹⁰, Atsushi Yamazaki^{6

11}, Takao M Sato⁶, Manabu Yamada¹², Shin-Ya Murakami⁶, Yukio Yamamoto⁶, Tetsuya Fukuhara¹³, Kazunori Ogohara¹⁴, Hiroki Ando¹⁵, Ko-Ichiro Sugiyama¹⁶, Hiroki Kashimura¹⁷, Shoko Ohtsuki¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ 1Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University, Kita 10 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810 Japan.
² 2Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 USA.
³ 3School of Sustainability, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), P. O. Box 167, 46150 Herzliya, Israel.
⁴ 4Physics Teaching Laboratories, Oxford University, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Rd, Oxford, OX1 3RH UK.
⁵ 5Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstr. 6, 8042 Graz, Austria.
⁶ 6Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 Japan.
⁷ 7Department of Space and Astronautical Science, School of Physical Sciences, SOKENDAI, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 Japan.
⁸ 8Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kiban-tou 4H7, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561 Japan.
⁹ 9Department of Earth Science, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kita, Okayama, 700-8530 Japan.
¹⁰ 10School of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of Aizu, 90 Kami-Iawase, Tsuruga, Ikki-machi, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima 965-8580 Japan.
¹¹ 11Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan.
¹² 12Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino, Chiba 275-0016 Japan.
¹³ 13Department of Physics, Rikkyo University, 3-34-1 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, 171-8501 Japan.
¹⁴ 14School of Engineering, University of Shiga Prefecture, 2500 Hassaka-cho, Hikone, Shiga 522-8533 Japan.
¹⁵ 15Faculty of Science, Kyoto Sangyo University, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto 603-8555 Japan.
¹⁶ 16Department of Information Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Matsue College, 14-4 Nishi-Ikuma, Matsue, Shimane 690-8518 Japan.
¹⁷ 17Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001 Japan.
¹⁸ School of Commerce, Senshu University, 2-1-1 Higashimita, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214-8580 Japan.

Abstract

The existence of lightning discharges in the Venus atmosphere has been controversial for more than 30 years, with many positive and negative reports published. The lightning and airglow camera (LAC) onboard the Venus orbiter, Akatsuki, was designed to observe the light curve of possible flashes at a sufficiently high sampling rate to discriminate lightning from other sources and can thereby perform a more definitive search for optical emissions. Akatsuki arrived at Venus during December 2016, 5 years following its launch. The initial operations of LAC through November 2016 have included a progressive increase in the high voltage applied to the avalanche photodiode detector. LAC began lightning survey observations in December 2016. It was confirmed that the operational high voltage was achieved and that the triggering system functions correctly. LAC lightning search observations are planned to continue for several years.

Keywords: Akatsuki; Flash; Lightning; Lightning and airglow camera; Venus.