Comment on "NOx production in laboratory discharges simulating blue jets and red sprites" by H. Peterson et al

Abstract

Peterson et al. [2009] intend to determine the NOx production of sprites and blue jets from laboratory experiments. Sprite discharges are known to be physically similar to streamer discharges at standard temperature and pressure. However, streamer experiments that simulate geophysical discharges require voltage pulses of one polarity, in contrast to the oscillating voltages of Peterson et al. Furthermore, Peterson et al. make errors in their comparison of current densities, sprite volumes and gas densities. Finally, there is a calculation error of 6 orders of magnitude in an important result.