What can elves tell us about very strong lightning?

Elves are a class of transient luminous events that occur in the ionosphere above strong lightning strikes. This phenomenon is intricately linked to the process of lightning formation. Each lightning strike creates a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that propagates outwards to the ionosphere. Once there, the EMP accelerates free electrons that cause nitrogen molecules to fluoresce. The fluorescence detectors at the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory are quite sensitive to this signature, which constitutes an elve. Using the elves, we might be able to reconstruct the lightning parameters that created them. This would give us insight into the inner mechanisms of some of the strongest and least understood storms on the planet. To begin to study this relationship, we used simulation to estimate the effect of lightning parameters on the shape and magnitude of elve time profiles. Mapping the parameter space of the simulation in this way will give us a test bed to better extract information about lightning from the elves. Furthermore, it will allow us to correlate our simulated results with elve data collected at Pierre Auger.