ELF Radio Wave Database

1. Name of Database:　 ELF Radio Wave Database

2. Institution:　 Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University

3. Contents of Database:

Tohoku University installed the ELF observation system at Syowa station, 
Antarctica in 2000 and carries out the continuous recording of 1-100 Hz 
waveforms in order to monitor the global lightning activity and to investigate 
the characteristics of lightning-related phenomena including high altitude discharges, 
such as sprites. Now we employ totally 4 sites for this purpose, namely, 
Onagawa (Japan), Kiruna (Sweden), California (US) and Syowa (Antarctica). 
This system is the only facility which records ELF waveforms continuously 
in the world. The data obtained provides essential information for environmental 
monitoring since it is recently pointed out that lightning activity would be 
a good quantitative proxy of atmospheric convections.


4. Examples of Database:



Figure 1. Example of one-day dynamic spectra of ELF waveform data obtained at Syowa station

Figure 1 shows an example of one-day dynamic spectra of magnetic field waveform 
data obtained at Syowa station in Antarctica on 14 January, 2003.  Upper and 
lower panels represent the H- and D-component dynamic spectra, respectively.  
The harmonic structure of Schumann resonance waves up to the seventh are clearly 
seen at about 8, 14, 20, 26, 32, 39, and 45 Hz in both H- and D- component dynamic 
spectra.  Spectral power enhancements are also seen in these spectra, which are 
strongly related with the global lightning activity.

5. Contact:

　　Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University
　　Aramaki Aza-Aoba, Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi,
　　980-8578, Japan
　　Hiroshi Fukunishi
　　TEL: +81-22-795-6734  FAX: +81-22-795-5775
　　EMAIL: fuku[AT]pat.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp

6. Public Offering of Database:

As a trial manufacture edition of data plotting and database, the following 
web site is opened experimentally.  Information such as the data acquisition day 
and simple plotting are added.

EDAC(ELF Data Archive Center)   (http://edac.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp)


Figure 2. Entry page of the EDAC web site.

Figure 2 shows a picture of the entry page of the EDAC web site.  
The outline of the ELF observation system is also shown not only 
in this web page but also in the following references.


Sato, M., and H. Fukunishi, Global sprite occurrence locations and rates 
derived from triangulation of transient Schumann resonance events, 
Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(16), 1859, 2003.

Sato, M., H. Fukunishi, M. Kikuchi, H. Yamagishi, and W.A. Lyons, 
Validation of sprite-inducing cloud-to-ground lightning based on 
ELF observations at Syowa station in Antarctica, J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. 
Phys., 65, 607-614, 2003.

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