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(meteorobs) meteors and sprites

Hi all;

I have got some additional info on the meteor/sprite thread.  The fellow at
Utah State University that showed us the video of the event is named Dr Mike
Taylor.  I have emailed him to find out if he has put the image sequence on
the web or where we could get additional data. To answer Bob McNaught's
question, the thunderclouds were beyond the video's line of sight as I
recall and there were just the clouds from the back end of the storm front
that had moved through.  The sky was about 50% clear, moreso higher in
elevation where one first sees the meteor which moves down and to the left
to disappear behind a cloud.  At that instant a flash is seen and the sprite
light trail travels up and then diagonally along the meteor's track, so the
"discharge" does not occur from the cloud the meteor disappeared from but
further off in the distance. I do not know the elevation of the camera but
this can be easily found out.  In searching for Mike Taylor's account I came
across the following journal reference (I do not know if this the same video
as Dr Taylor's or yet another observation of this phenomena). 

@Article{strabley_fag98,
  author = 	 "R. Strabley and D. M. Suszcynsky and
		  R. Roussel-Dupre, and E. M. D. Symbalisty and
		  R. A. Armstrong and W. A. Lyons and T. A. Nelson",
  title = 	 "Video and Photometric Observations of a Possible
		  Meteor-Triggered Sprite/Jet Event",
  journal =	 "EOSS",
  year =	 1998,
  volume =	 79,
  number =	 45,
  pages =	 "F135",
  month =	 "November",
  note =         "A31A-02 poster",
  abstract =     "This paper presents video and photometry data of a
possible 
        meteor-triggered sprite/jet event.  The data was recorded 
        with both white-light and blue-light Xybion video cameras 
        with millisecond time-stamping, a gps time-tagged broadband 
        red photometer with 50 microsecond time resolution, and a VLF
        receiver.  The event was collected on August 1, 1998 during 
        the SPRITES '98 campaign at Yucca Ridge Field Station 
        operated by FMA Research in Ft. Collins, CO. The event 
        consisted of three stages, (1) the observation of a 
        moderately bright meteor, (2) the development of a sprite in 
        the immediate vicinity of the meteor as the meteor reached 
        the 60 - 70 km altitude range, and (3) a slower forming ``jet''
        of luminosity that appeared during the late stages of the 
        sprite and propagated back up the ionization trail of the 
        meteor.  The event is analyzed in terms of its geometry, its 
        association with the meteor, and the implications to existing 
        theories for sprite and jet formation."


Pete Gural
peter.s.gural@cpmx.saic.com

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