Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2012) 127: 94
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2012-12094-x

Regular Article

Observation of ELVES at the Pierre Auger Observatory

¹ INFN Sezione di Torino, via P.Giuria 1, I-10125, Torino, Italy
² Observatorio Pierre Auger, Av. San Martín Norte 304, 5613, Malargüe, Argentina
³ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, via Marzolo 8, I-35131, Padova, Italy

^* e-mail: mussa@to.infn.it

Received: 27 July 2012
Accepted: 27 July 2012
Published online: 28 August 2012

Abstract

We report the serendipitous observation of ELVES in the data taken by the Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, which, exploiting its multi-site imaging capability, high time resolution, is well suited for performing detailed studies on these ionospheric phenomena. ELVES are transient luminous emissions from altitudes between 80 and 95 km above sea level, with timescales of tens of microseconds, which are triggered by lightning activity. We are currently designing a dedicated trigger algorithm and readout scheme to strongly enhance detection efficiency on these rare events, without affecting the quality of cosmic ray data taking.