Ground-Level Search for Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes
Abstract
We report on ground-level searches for transient gamma-ray excesses associated with thunderstorms in the Washington, D.C., and Huntsville, Alabama, areas in Summer 2016. The gamma-ray data were collected with arrays of fast scintillators read out by high-rate flash digitizers for robust spectroscopy of bright transients. The searches were performed both independently on the gamma-ray data and seeded with times of nearby lightning discharges. Motivated by our ground-level detection of a Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash apparently initiated by an upward positive leader from an altitude-triggered lightning discharge (Hare et al. 2016), we deployed the array at a site in Huntsville near a tall transmission tower known to generate upward leaders and receive or initiate lightning strikes. For context, the gamma-ray instrumentation is supplemented by dual-polarization radar, high speed video measurements and two lightning mapping arrays: the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA) and the Huntsville Alabama Marx Meter Array (HAMMA).
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMAE33A0418G
- Keywords:
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- 3304 Atmospheric electricity;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 3324 Lightning;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES