• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Mysterious Gamma-ray Flashes

Terrence Cook

Terrence Cook

EF2
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Broomfield, Colorado
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2010/29jan_firefly.htm


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"To the eye, a Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash/TGF probably wouldn't look like much. Unlike lightning, most of a TGF's energy is released as invisible gamma rays, not visible light. They don't produce colorful bursts of light like sprites and other lightning-related phenomena. Nevertheless, these unseen eruptions could help explain why brilliant lightning strikes occur."[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"What causes these high-energy flashes? Do they help trigger lightning--or does lightning trigger them? Could they be responsible for some of the high-energy particles in the Van Allen radiation belts, which can damage satellites?"[/FONT]


Fascinating stuff! There's so much going on in a supercell it's hard to fathom the electrical field and how it interacts with the Ionosphere, etc...
 
It is too bad this satellite will not go up sooner. It might be interesting to get scanning during Vortex 2 and therefore get an even clearer picture of a storm from all directions and in multiple wavelengths.
 
Good day all,

This is very interesting, as any super-high voltages in near vaccuum produce X-Rays and even some Y-Rays (Gamma). This is possible in the upper atmosphere at the "top end" of lightning bolts.

It's the same principle that an X-Ray tube works on, with a high flow of electrons (requires at LEAST 60 kV to get X-Rays). I am sure hundreds of millions of volts should be more than enough to produce high energy X-Rays and some gamma rays.
 
There is some work being done at LSU to use high-altitude edge-of-space balloons to detect gamma rays from supercells, using a launch prior to convective initiation to get the balloon to its observing altitude a specific region. Makes for a tough forecast but all this is in the planning stages. The group there i know has had success in Antartica using edge-of-space balloons with their gamma ray detection payload. Very interesting subject and lots of new work just getting started!
 
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