The effects of lightning on the ionosphere/magnetosphere

This chapter will deal with the effect of lightning onto the upper atmosphere such as the ionosphere and magnetosphere. There are a few possible effects of lightning on the ionosphere/magnetosphere, but we restrict our attention to the following two phenomena: (1) lightning-induced whistlers and (2) ionospheric Alfven resonators (IARs). The former well-known whistlers are defined generally by signals in the extremely low frequency (ELF) and very low frequency (VLF) bands of causative lightning discharges that travel through the ionospheric/magnetospheric plasma along the Earth's magnetic field. IARs are characterized by the resonance phenomena in the frequency range below the conventional Schumann resonance. Their morphological characteristics and their interpretation in terms of lightning discharges are presented in this chapter.