Theoretical and Experimental Study of the Kinetics of Triplet States of Molecular Nitrogen in Sprites and Their Analogues

Populations of different vibrational levels of triplet states of molecular nitrogen and the emission intensities of the bands of the first and second positive systems of N at altitudes of 40–90 km during sprites were calculated. The calculation results show that the ratio of the calculated spectral densities of the emission energy of the bands of the first positive system to the spectral densities of the emission energy of the second positive system with decreasing altitude. This is explained by increase in the rate of quenching of the BΠ state with increasing atmospheric density. The calculation results are compared with the experimentally measured spectral densities of the emission energy of N bands in the emission spectra of diffuse plasma jets.