ELF/VLF signatures of sprite-producing lightning discharges observed during the 2005 EuroSprite campaign

During the summer of 2005, transient luminous events were optically imaged from the French Pyrénées as part of the EuroSprite campaign. Simultaneously, extremely low frequency (ELF: 3–3000 Hz) and broadband very low frequency (VLF: 3–30 kHz) data were recorded continuously at two separate receivers in Israel, located about 3300 km from the area of the parent lightning discharges responsible for the generation of sprites. Additionally, narrowband VLF data were collected in Crete, at about 2300 km away from the region of sprites.The motivation for the present study was to identify the signature of the sprite-producing lightning discharges in the ELF and VLF electromagnetic frequency bands, to qualify and compare their parameters, and to study the influence of the thunderstorm-activated region on its overlaying ionosphere. For the 15 sprites analyzed, their causative positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) discharges had peak current intensities between +8 and +130 kA whereas their charge moment changes (CMC) ranged from 500 to 3500 C km. Furthermore, the peak current reported by the Météorage lightning network are well correlated with the amplitudes of the VLF bursts, while showing poor correlation with the CMCs which were estimated using ELF methods.Additionally, more than one +CG was associated with six of the sprites, implying that lightning discharges that produce sprites can sometimes have multiple ground connections separated in time and space. Finally, for a significant number of events (33%) an ELF transient was not associated with sprite occurrence, suggesting that long continuing current of tens of ms may not always be a necessary condition for sprite production, a finding which influences the estimation of the global sprite rate based on Schumann resonance (SR) measurements.     

Analysis of lightning activity in two thunderstorm systems producing sprites in France

Two sprite-producing mesoscale convective systems above the South-Western part of France are studied. Three sprite events during the first night and seven during the second night were captured. Except for two events, the sprites could be associated with causative positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) discharges in the stratiform region of the storm. The analysis of lightning activity reveals that in both nights sprites occurred when lightning activity decreased rapidly and the ratio of +CGs to the total number of CGs decreased slightly. The average peak current of sprite-producing lightning was lower than 60 kA, in agreement with other observations. The delay times of sprites to their SPCGs varied from 57 to 140 m s and no correlation between events’ delay and shape was established.     

Some results of observations of positive lightning discharges and relative phenomena in the east of Siberia

We have considered spatial distributions of positive lightning discharges in the east of Siberia for the summer seasons of 2003–2007 and properties of their electromagnetic signals with the ELF “slow tail”, which, as is known, can be accompanied by sprites. There are two main regions of positive discharges located in the south and west of Yakutsk. Two other “centers” (the northeastern and the eastern) are located in high-mountainous regions. In these regions the positive discharges intensity can exceed the negative discharge intensity.The electromagnetic signals in the ELF range (usually in the form of two half-cycles) were observed after the VLF atmospherics were recorded in the high-latitude regions. The delay of ELF pulses relative to the corresponding atmospherics was 0–7 ms. The long (up to 350 ms) events of quasi-periodic ELF oscillations with the period of about 7 ms (which corresponds to the quasi-period of ELF pulses) were revealed.     

Comparison of time delays of sprites induced by winter lightning flashes in the Japan Sea with those in the Pacific Ocean

The measurement of unusual winter sprites in the Hokuriku area (Japan Sea side) was performed as a primary target of the 2006/2007 winter campaign by means of coordinated optical and extremely low frequency (ELF)/very high-frequency (VHF) electromagnetic observations. We have also added the same observations for the sprites in the Pacific Ocean, to be compared with the characteristics of Hokuriku sprites. The following results have emerged from this campaign: (i) the predominance of column sprites in winter has been confirmed not only for the Hokuriku area but also in the Pacific Ocean (with the probability just above 60%), (ii) carrots are much more frequently observed in the Pacific Ocean (with a probability of ～28%) than in the Hokuriku area (～16%), (iii) a very unique property of Hokuriku sprites is the surprisingly long delay (average ～90 ms) of sprites from their parent lightning flashes and the delays for carrots and columns exhibit some significant difference (80 ms for columns and 100 ms for carrots) and (iv) the time delay of Pacific Ocean sprites is much shorter (～43 ms average) than that at Hokuriku, but there is no remarkable difference in delay between carrots and columns. Finally we discussed the importance of time delay studies to understand sprite generations and their parent lightning discharges, because the difference of time delays on the Japan Sea side and in the Pacific Ocean are thought to be causally related to the parameters of parent thunderstorms.     

Peculiar transient events in the Schumann resonance band and their possible explanation

Superimposed on the continuous Schumann resonance (SR) background in the extremely low frequency (ELF) band, transient signals (e.g. bursts) can be observed, which originate from intense lightning discharges occurring at different locations on the globe. From the many transients that were observed at the Astronomical and Geophysical Observatory (AGO) of Comenius University near Modra, western Slovakia, in the vertical electric field component mainly during May and June of 2006, a peculiar group of events could be recognized. According to the waveform analysis, these peculiar events in most cases consist of two overlapping transients with a characteristic time difference of 0.13–0.15 s between the onsets. On the other hand, the spectrum of these peculiar transients showed discernible SR peaks for higher modes as well (n>7). The same events could be found in the records of the Széchenyi István Geophysical Observatory of the Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences near Nagycenk, Hungary (NCK). The natural origin of the peculiar events was verified from the NCK data and the source location was determined from the second transient. The results suggest that the two consecutive transients originated in the same thunderstorm. Furthermore, the phase spectrum analysis indicates that the sources have coherently excited the Earth-ionosphere cavity. These findings seem to support the idea that electromagnetic waves orbiting the Earth might trigger lightning discharges. The possibility that electromagnetic waves may trigger discharges was first considered by Nikola Tesla.     

A study of the morphology of winter sprites in the Hokuriku area of Japan in relation to cloud charge height

Continuous observations of sprites in the Hokuriku area of Japan were performed from two optical sites during the three winter periods. The purpose of this observation is to study the major effect in the appearance of sprites and in determining the morphology of sprites (columns or carrots). Detailed analysis is performed based on the estimation of the height of ?10 °C at the time of sprite occurrence. When the height of ?10 °C is lower than 1800 m, the occurrence of sprites is infrequent, and the dominant shape is column. Then when it is increased (1800–3000 m), a new situation takes place, namely the occurrence of sprites is very enhanced and more spectacular shapes like carrots tend to be frequently observed in addition to column sprites. These sprite characteristics are first compared with those of parent lightning in the Hokuriku area and with our latest computer simulations on sprite initiation.     

Characteristics of Japanese winter sprites and their parent lightning as estimated by VHF lightning and ELF transients

Sprites are newly discovered optical emissions in the mesosphere over large thunderstorms. This paper is the observational summary of winter sprites in the Hokuriku area of Japan and their parent lightning in the winter of 2004/2005, by using the coordinated optical and electromagnetic (VHF and ELF) measurements in Japan. As the results of optical observations at two stations, we have found that this campaign has yielded a variety of sprite shapes; V-angle shaped structures have been often observed (25%) in addition to columnar structures familiar for us. All of the sprite events are found to be associated with $+$CG lightning, as seen from the macroscopic information by ELF data at Moshiri. However, examining the microscopic properties of parent lightning as seen from the VHF SAFIR lightning detection network, has suggested very complicated characteristics of parent lightning discharges inducing sprites, as compared with the ELF data. One half of the sprite events are also found to be associated with $+$CG by the SAFIR observation, but another half has yielded rather new results as compared with earlier results. Four events are definitely associated with $-$CG and the remaining three events, inter-cloud flashes. The overall picture for Japanese winter sprites and their parent lightning discharges, is significantly different from that for the summer-time, continental sprites. This is indicative of complexity of winter lightning in the Hokuriku area of Japan and this would provide new information on the sprite generation mechanism.     

Recent Results from Studies of Electric Discharges in the Mesosphere

The paper reviews recent advances in studies of electric discharges in the stratosphere and mesosphere above thunderstorms, and their effects on the atmosphere. The primary focus is on the sprite discharge occurring in the mesosphere, which is the most commonly observed high altitude discharge by imaging cameras from the ground, but effects on the upper atmosphere by electromagnetic radiation from lightning are also considered. During the past few years, co-ordinated observations over Southern Europe have been made of a wide range of parameters related to sprites and their causative thunderstorms. Observations have been complemented by the modelling of processes ranging from the electric discharge to perturbations of trace gas concentrations in the upper atmosphere. Observations point to significant energy deposition by sprites in the neutral atmosphere as observed by infrasound waves detected at up to 1000 km distance, whereas elves and lightning have been shown significantly to affect ionization and heating of the lower ionosphere/mesosphere. Studies of the thunderstorm systems powering high altitude discharges show the important role of intracloud (IC) lightning in sprite generation as seen by the first simultaneous observations of IC activity, sprite activity and broadband, electromagnetic radiation in the VLF range. Simulations of sprite ignition suggest that, under certain conditions, energetic electrons in the runaway regime are generated in streamer discharges. Such electrons may be the source of X- and Gamma-rays observed in lightning, thunderstorms and the so-called Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) observed from space over thunderstorm regions. Model estimates of sprite perturbations to the global atmospheric electric circuit, trace gas concentrations and atmospheric dynamics suggest significant local perturbations, and possibly significant meso-scale effects, but negligible global effects.     

The effects of thunderstorm-generated atmospheric gravity waves on mid-latitude F-region drifts

Superposed epoch analysis (SEA) was used to examine ionospheric drift velocities measured by a digital ionosonde located at the mid-latitude station Bundoora (145.1°E, 37.7°S geographic), near Melbourne. The control times for the SEA were the times of cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning strokes measured from August 2003 to August 2004 by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN). Statistically, regions of concentrated lightning activity migrated from west to east across Bundoora, and the stroke frequency was higher the day prior the activity reached the station, and lower on the day after it passed to the east. For the SEA, CG strokes were separated into four directional quadrants centred on north, south, east and west. No SEA results are shown for the south quadrant due to the relatively low detection frequency of strokes across the Southern Ocean (6% of all events). The strongest downward vertical perturbations in F-region drifts, ?4.5 m s^?1, were found for lightning located towards the west during ?30 to ?16 h (i.e., the afternoon prior the activity passed near the station at t=0 h). The downward perturbation decreased in amplitude to ?1.5 m s^?1 for lightning located towards the north during ?6–+6 h, and was weakest (?0.7 m s^?1) for lightning located towards the east during +16–+28 h (i.e., the next afternoon). There were directionally consistent perturbations in the drift azimuths associated with the lightning located in their respective quadrants; lightning located to the west of the station caused eastward azimuth enhancements, northward lightning caused southward enhancements, and eastward lightning caused westward enhancements. Velocity magnitudes and fluctuations tended to increase during the passage of lightning. The observed responses were stronger when the SEA was performed with data selected using time windows of <2 min on either side of each lightning stroke. However, they persisted at longer time scales and were strong when thunderstorm onsets (instead of lightning times) were used as controls. Our results can be explained by thunderstorm-generated atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) which subsequently gave rise to medium-scale travelling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs), with the lightning strokes acting merely as a proxy for this coupling. The prevailing thermospheric winds were flowing from east to west across the study region, and may have acted as a directional ‘filter’ for the MSTIDs, allowing waves generated in the west quadrant to reach the station and preventing those generated in other quadrants. Displacement of the MSTIDs in the direction anti-parallel to mean neutral wind flow has been observed by (Waldock, J.A., Jones, T.B., 1986. HF Doppler observations of medium-scale travelling ionospheric disturbances at mid-latitudes. Journal of atmospheric and terrestrial physics 48(3), 245–260).     

Mapping the spatial distribution of subsurface saline material in the Darling River valley

In the Australian landscape larg stores of soluble salt are present naturally. In many cases it is attributable to salts entrapped as marine sediment in earlier geological time. At the district level, the need for information on the presence of saline subsurface material is increasing, particularly for its application to salinity hazard assessment and environmental management. This is the case in irrigated areas, where changes in hydrology can result in secondary salinisation. To reduce the expense, environmental studies use a regression relationship to make use of more readily observed measurements (e.g. electromagnetic (EM) data) which are strongly correlated with the variable of interest. In this investigation a methodology is outlined for mapping the spatial distribution of average subsurface (6–12 m) salinity (EC_e — mS m^? 1) using an environmental correlation with EM34 survey data collected across the Bourke Irrigation District (BID) in the Darling River valley. The EM34 is used in the horizontal dipole mode at coil configurations of 10 (EM34-10), 20 (EM34-20), and 40 (EM34-40). A multiple-linear regression (MLR) relationship is established between average subsurface EC_e and the three EM34 signal data using a forward modeling stepwise linear modeling approach. The spatial distribution of average subsurface salinity generally reflects the known surface expression of point-source salinisation and provides information for future environmental monitoring and natural resource management. The generation of EM34 data on various contrived grids (i.e. 1, 1.5, 2. 2.5 and 3 km) indicates that in terms of accuracy, the data available on the 0.5 (RMSE = 188) and 1 km (RMSE = 283) grid are best, with the least biased predictions achieved using 1 (ME = ? 1) and 2 km (ME = 12) grids. Viewing the spatial distribution of subsurface saline material showed that the 0.5 km spacing is optimal, particularly in order to account for short-range spatial variation between various physiographic units. The Relative Improvement (RI) shows that increasing EM grids from 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 to 3 km gave RI of ? 53, ? 100%, ? 107%, ? 128% and ? 140%, respectively. We conclude that at a minimum a 1 km grid is needed for reconnaissance EM34 surveying.     

Estimation of lightning and sprite parameters based on observation of sprite-producing lightning power spectra

Spectrograms and ELF power spectra of magnetic variations originated from sprite-producing lightning discharges have been analyzed to extract both parent lightning and sprite parameters. Some of the spectrograms and power spectra have been found to have approximately quasi-oscillatory shape in the frequency range 0–40 Hz with maximum repetition period about 15–20 Hz. A theory predicts that this interesting peculiarity of the power spectra can be due to interference between electromagnetic fields originated from the parent lightning discharge and from the sprite. A smooth envelope of the power spectrum was shown to have a form of damped oscillations with period close to reciprocal value of sprite lag time. A technique of extracting sprite parameters based on the sprite-producing lightning power spectrum is proposed. The lack of the first Schumann resonance and other features occasionally observed in spectral resonance structure were also discussed.     

Narrow positive bipolar radiation from lightning observed in Sri Lanka

Narrow positive bipolar pulses (NPBPs), whose origin largely remains unknown as yet, have occasionally been noticed in Sri Lanka. These discharges are found to be opposite in polarity to that of negative return strokes, and are found to occur at the beginning and active stage of thunderstorm activities in Sri Lanka. They are emitted from the thunderstorms that produce other activities also and are relatively narrower, bipolar and isolated in nature. They are neither preceded by leader-type pulses nor succeeded by the subsequent activities and hence, could not be associated with any other known activity. Similar radiations have previously been identified and termed as NPBPs. Their features are indeed unique and different from the other known thunderstorm electrical processes. These events have been found to be accompanied by the HF radiations at 5 and 10 MHz, at the trailing part of the pulse. However, such narrow, bipolar and isolated events have not been observed in Sweden, during a lightning measurement campaign at Uppsala, in 2006. So, it is speculated that the meteorological conditions to be responsible for the thunderstorm activity to produce such pulses. Features of such pulses recorded on different thunderstorm days in 2005 and 2006 have been analyzed and presented in this study.The average rise time (10–90%) (Tr), of the pulses was found to be 2.6 μs, the average zero crossing time (Tz) was found to be 5.85 μs, the average duration of slow front (Ts) was found to be 1.86 μs, and the average ratio of amplitude of overshoot to the corresponding peak amplitude (Os/Pa) of these pulses was found to be 0.39.     

Observations of narrow bipolar events in East China

Narrow bipolar events (NBEs) are a distinct class of intra-cloud lightning discharge. In this paper we present observations of 10 negative and 67 positive such events in East China. Positive NBEs occurred at 7–12 km altitude above mean sea level (MSL) with a mean altitude of 9.5 km, and negative NBEs occurred at 14–16 km altitude. Electrical/channel characteristics of these events were derived from NBE pulse waveforms based on the transmission-line model. On average, the peak current moment and the charge moment change of a NBE event is 15 kA km, and 0.12 C km, respectively. The mean time for the propagation of current front along the channel is 2.2 μs. The upper limit on channel length for NBEs in this study is 510–1060 m, the lower limit on discharge current amplitude is 12.5–43.2 kA, and the minimum charge transfer is 0.1–0.3 C.     

Thunderstorm-associated responses in the vertical motion of the mid-latitude F-region ionosphere

Mid-latitude Digisonde Doppler velocities, auroral electrojet (AE) indices and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning strokes during August 2003–2004 were used to study the perturbations in the F-region vertical drift associated with terrestrial thunderstorms. A superposed epoch analysis (SEA) showed that the F-region vertical drifts V_z had a net descent of ～0.6 m s^?1 peaking ～3 h after lightning. Stronger downward perturbations of up to ～0.9 m s^?1 were observed in the afternoon on the day prior to lightning days. The perturbations were less significant on the day after and insignificant during the remaining intervals up to 144 h on either side of the lightning. The stronger responses on the day before are consistent with causality because the lightning times were merely proxies for the physical mechanisms involved. The actual causes are unclear, but we discuss the possible roles of lightning-induced ionisation enhancements, intense electric fields penetrating upward from electrified clouds, and atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) radiated from thunderstorms or from the accompanying tropospheric fronts. There is no doubt that the behaviour of the mid-latitude F-region is controlled by the thermospheric winds and the solar wind-magnetosphere electrical generators, but our results suggest that electrified clouds also account for a significant, albeit relatively small component of the ionospheric variability.     

Thunderstorms,Lightning, Sprites and Magnetospheric Whistler-Mode Radio Waves

Thunderstorms and the lightning that they produce are inherently interesting phenomena that have intrigued scientists and mankind in general for many years. The study of thunderstorms has rapidly advanced during the past century and many efforts have been made towards understanding lightning, thunderstorms and their consequences. Recent observations of optical phenomena above an active lightning discharge along with the availability of modern technology both for data collection and data analysis have renewed interest in the field of thunderstorms and their consequences in the biosphere. In this paper, we review the electrification processes of a thunderstorm, lightning processes and their association with global electric circuit and climate. The upward lightning discharge can cause sprites, elves, jets, etc. which are together called transient luminous events. Their morphological features and effects in the mesosphere are reviewed. The wide spectrum of electromagnetic waves generated during lightning discharges couple the lower atmosphere with the ionosphere/magnetosphere. Hence various features of these waves from ULF to VHF are reviewed with reference to recent results and their consequences are also briefly discussed.     

Using full-flash narrowband energy for ranging of lightning ground strokes

We demonstrate that narrowband measurements can be used for rudimentary ranging of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes. The system at present responds to both intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning; ranging is demonstrated for a subset of flashes known to be cloud-to-ground lightning. The system uses a ferrite-core antenna with a length of about 4 cm and diameter 4 mm, and operates on a narrow band at about 1 MHz, close to the HF band (3–30 MHz). It downmixes the signal to audio frequencies and operates in a manner which is very similar to an AM radio. The system triggers on all impulses which exceed a given adjustable threshold above the ambient noise level, and records 1 s of data. Such a system was used to collect lightning-caused electromagnetic disturbances during summer 2006 in Finland. The output is compared to two scientifically verified references: a flat-plate broadband antenna measuring the vertical electric field and a commercial lightning location network giving flash location. A key aim of the system is to reduce the information to as few parameters as possible. Peak intensity and full-flash energy were used as simple parameters. It is shown that accurate flash-by-flash ranging is not possible with this method; however, it is shown that the method can be used to track clusters of ground flashes within a range of about 50–100 km with an accuracy of about 10 km.     

On the NOx production by laboratory electrical discharges and lightning

Different approaches are used in estimating the global production of NO_x by lightning flashes, including field measurements carried out during thunderstorm conditions, theoretical studies combining the physics and chemistry of the electrical discharges, and measurements of NO_x yield in laboratory sparks with subsequent extrapolation to lightning. In the latter procedure, laboratory data are extrapolated to lightning using the energy as the scaling quantity. Further, in these studies only the return strokes are considered assuming that contributions from other processes such as leaders, continuing currents, M components, and K processes are negligible. In this paper, we argue that the use of energy as the scaling quantity and omission of all lightning processes other than return strokes are not justified. First, a theory which can be used to evaluate the NO_x production by electrical discharges, if the current flowing in the discharge is known, is presented. The results obtained from theory are compared with the available experimental data and a reasonable agreement is found. Numerical experiments suggest that the NO_x production efficiency of electrical discharges depends not only on the energy dissipated in the discharge, but also on the shape of current waveform. Thus, the current signature, can influence extrapolation of laboratory data to lightning flashes. Second, an estimation of the NO_x yield per lightning flash is made by treating the lightning flash as a composite event consisting of several discharge processes. We show that the NO_x production takes place mainly in slow discharge processes such as leaders, M components, and continuing currents, with return strokes contributing only a small fraction of the total NO_x. The results also show that cloud flashes are as efficient as ground flashes in NO_x generation. In estimating the global NO_x production by lightning flashes the most influencing parameter is the length of the lightning discharge channel inside the cloud. For the total length of channels inside the cloud of a typical ground flash of about 45 km, we estimate that the global annual production of NO_x is about 4 Tg(N).     

Imaging Pn velocities beneath the Pannonian basin

The Pannonian depression is an extensional back-arc basin in central Europe and is an integral part of the Alpine–Carpathian orogenic mountain belts. It can be characterized by thinned lower crust, shallow Moho discontinuity, high surface heat flow and Moho temperature, implying recent active tectonic processes. Imaging the velocity structure of the upper mantle may help us to better understand the structure and formation of the Pannonian region.In this paper, P_n traveltimes from regional earthquakes are used to tomographically image the lateral velocity variations in the uppermost mantle beneath the Pannonian basin. The set of linear tomographic equations, built up of the time term equation for each source–receiver pair, is solved by a truncated singular value decomposition algorithm. The explicit computation of the generalized inverse of the tomographic equations makes it possible to deduce both the resolution matrix and the model covariance matrix, allowing us to estimate the resolution and reliability of the solution.The mean compressional wave velocity in the uppermost mantle beneath the Pannonian basin is 7.9 km/s, substantially lower than the average continental P_n velocity of 8.1 km/s. It is mostly due to the high Moho temperature having values on average 400–500 °C more than those in the surrounding areas. The velocity anomalies range from −0.3 to 0.3 km/s relative to the mean velocity of 7.9 km/s. Due to high Moho temperature, below the North Hungarian range low (7.6–7.7 km/s) velocities can be found. High-velocity anomalies of around 8.1 km/s can be detected along the W-SW boundaries of Hungary and at the junction of the Pannonian basin and the Southern Carpathians. The Great Hungarian Plain shows average (7.9 km/s) P_n velocities.     

Attempts to create ball lightning with triggered lightning

We describe attempts to create ball lightning by directing lightning, triggered from natural thunderclouds using the rocket-and-wire technique, through a variety of materials. Some of the observed phenomena have features in common with natural ball lightning or with laboratory attempts to create it: flame-like luminosity for up to 0.5 s above salt water; constant-luminosity silicon fragments falling for about 1 s under the influence of gravity; a 0.7 m region of stationary luminosity whose bottom was 0.3 m above a stainless steel surface to which arcing had occurred; and a glow for about 0.5 s above pine tree sections.     

Optical dating of a hyperconcentrated flow deposit on a Yellow River terrace in Hukou,Shaanxi, China

A sand layer, interpreted as a hyperconcentrated flow deposit, was found interbedded between loess on a Yellow River terrace in Hukou, Shaanxi, China. The site is known as the Longwangchan Palaeolithic site. The deposits from the terrace were dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Two samples from the sand layer were dated to 30 ± 2 and 33 ± 3 ka using coarse-grained (CG) quartz, and to 82 ± 7 and 94 ± 5 ka using fine-grained (FG) quartz, respectively. The CG quartz OSL ages are believed to be reliable on the basis of the OSL ages of the bracketing loess samples. The overestimation of the FG quartz OSL ages of the sand samples is explained in terms of hyperconcentrated flow processes during sediment transport and deposition. The large difference between the CG and FG quartz OSL ages of the sand samples helps to better understand the formation of the hyperconcentrated flow deposit. The hyperconcentrated flow deposit in this study indicates an extreme river flood occurring at ～30 ka in this area. In addition, the stone artifacts found in the lower loess layer overlying the bedrock of the terrace were dated to ～47 ka.