Optical signatures of lightning‐Induced heating of the D region

Lightning‐induced heating of the nighttime D region leads to the excitation of a number of lines of O, O2, N2, at intensities of 10–109 Rayleighs (R) for vertical observations. For example, the 5577 Å emission from O has intensity ∼60 R lasting for ∼350 ms while the 1st and 2nd positive bands of N2 are at ∼109 R but last only ∼50μs.