Molecular nitrogen LBH band system far‐UV emissions of sprite streamers

The time dependent optical emission model developed by Liu and Pasko (2004) is applied to studies of far‐UV emissions of sprite streamers due to N 2 Lyman‐Birge‐Hopfield (LBH) band system. Modeling results indicate that the LBH emissions of sprite streamers at 70 km are generally stronger by up to a factor of 10 than those from the first negative band system of N 2 + , and experimental measurements of the ratio of these two emissions at sprite altitudes can be used to determine poorly known quenching altitude of the N 2 ( a 1 Π g ) state.