Characteristics of Thunderstorms That Produce Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes
| Autor: | Robert H. Holzworth, M. Stanbro, Valerie Connaughton, James B. Brundell, Gerard Fitzpatrick, T. Chronis, George Priftis, Michael S. Briggs, Stan Heckman, S. McBreen |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Lightning detection
Atmospheric Science 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Gamma ray Atmospheric sciences 01 natural sciences Convective available potential energy law.invention Atmosphere law 0103 physical sciences Thunderstorm Environmental science Weather radar Gamma-ray burst 010303 astronomy & astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Remote sensing |
| Zdroj: | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 97:639-653 |
| ISSN: | 1520-0477 0003-0007 |
| DOI: | 10.1175/bams-d-14-00239.1 |
| Popis: | Ground-based lightning detection systems geolocated 877 terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) from a sample of 2,279 TGFs detected with the Fermi Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GBM). From these accurate geolocations, 24 TGFs are found within the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) operational range in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Pacific near Guam. NEXRAD-enhanced echo-top (EET) data show that these 24 TGFs are consistently adjacent to high-altitude regions of the storms. The high EET values suggest that there is likely a detection–selection effect, in which the gamma rays from lower-altitude TGFs are attenuated by the atmosphere so that such TGFs fall below the detection threshold of current space-based detectors. The vertical integrated liquid density (VILD) values and the volume scan reflectivities Z show that these 24 TGFs originate from storms of a wide range of convective strengths. Convective available potential energy (CAPE) values from reanalysis also vary widely, providing additional evidence of the range of convection in these TGF-producing storms. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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