Mysterious Gamma-ray Flashes

[Terrence Cook]

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...

 

[Stephen Levine]

Thank you for sharing that awesome link. We are discovering more and more how amazing a beast that thunderheads and thunderstorms are.

 

[craig buchanan]

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.

 

[cdcollura]

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.

 

[IAN GIAMMANCO]

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!