Geophysical Research Letters (Sep 2024)
Evidence of a New Population of Weak Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes Observed From Aircraft Altitude
- I. Bjørge‐Engeland,
- N. Østgaard,
- D. Sarria,
- M. Marisaldi,
- A. Mezentsev,
- A. Fuglestad,
- N. Lehtinen,
- J. E. Grove,
- D. Shy,
- T. Lang,
- M. Quick,
- H. Christian,
- C. Schultz,
- R. Blakeslee,
- I. Adams,
- R. Kroodsma,
- G. Heymsfield,
- K. Ullaland,
- S. Yang,
- B. Hasan Qureshi,
- J. Søndergaard,
- B. Husa,
- D. Walker,
- M. Bateman,
- D. Mach,
- P. Bitzer,
- M. Fullekrug,
- M. Cohen,
- M. Stanley,
- S. Cummer,
- J. Montanya,
- M. Pazos,
- C. Velosa,
- O. van derVelde,
- Y. Pu,
- P. Krehbiel,
- J. A. Roncancio,
- J. A. Lopez,
- M. Urbani,
- A. Santos,
- T. Neubert,
- F. Gordillo‐Vazquez
Affiliations
- I. Bjørge‐Engeland
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- N. Østgaard
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- D. Sarria
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- M. Marisaldi
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- A. Mezentsev
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- A. Fuglestad
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- N. Lehtinen
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- J. E. Grove
- U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Washington DC WA USA
- D. Shy
- U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Washington DC WA USA
- T. Lang
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville AL USA
- M. Quick
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville AL USA
- H. Christian
- Department of Atmospheric Science Earth System Science Center University of Alabama Huntsville AL USA
- C. Schultz
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville AL USA
- R. Blakeslee
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville AL USA
- I. Adams
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- R. Kroodsma
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- G. Heymsfield
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- K. Ullaland
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- S. Yang
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- B. Hasan Qureshi
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- J. Søndergaard
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- B. Husa
- Department of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen Norway
- D. Walker
- Department of Atmospheric Science Earth System Science Center University of Alabama Huntsville AL USA
- M. Bateman
- Department of Atmospheric Science Earth System Science Center University of Alabama Huntsville AL USA
- D. Mach
- Universities Space Research Association Huntsville AL USA
- P. Bitzer
- Department of Atmospheric Science Earth System Science Center University of Alabama Huntsville AL USA
- M. Fullekrug
- University of Bath Bath UK
- M. Cohen
- Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta GA USA
- M. Stanley
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro NM USA
- S. Cummer
- Duke University Durham NC USA
- J. Montanya
- Polytechnic University of Catalonia Barcelona Spain
- M. Pazos
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmosfera y Cambio Climatico UNAM CDMX Mexico
- C. Velosa
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia Medellín Columbia
- O. van derVelde
- Polytechnic University of Catalonia Barcelona Spain
- Y. Pu
- Duke University Durham NC USA
- P. Krehbiel
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro NM USA
- J. A. Roncancio
- Polytechnic University of Catalonia Barcelona Spain
- J. A. Lopez
- Polytechnic University of Catalonia Barcelona Spain
- M. Urbani
- Polytechnic University of Catalonia Barcelona Spain
- A. Santos
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia Medellín Columbia
- T. Neubert
- Department of Space Research and Technology Technical University of Denmark Kongens Lyngby Denmark
- F. Gordillo‐Vazquez
- Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia CSIC Granada Spain
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110395
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 51,
no. 17
pp. n/a – n/a
Abstract
Abstract Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes (TGFs) are ten‐to‐hundreds of microsecond bursts of gamma‐rays produced when electrons in strong electric fields in thunderclouds are accelerated to relativistic energies. Space instruments have observed TGFs with source photon brightness down to ∼1017–1016. Based on space and aircraft observations, TGFs have been considered rare phenomena produced in association with very few lightning discharges. Space observations associated with lightning ground observations in the radio band have indicated that there exists a population of dimmer TGFs. Here we show observations of TGFs from aircraft altitude that were not detected by a space instrument viewing the same area. The TGFs were found through Monte Carlo modeling to be associated with 1015–1012 photons at source, which is several orders of magnitude below what can be seen from space. Our results suggest that there exists a significant population of TGFs that are too weak to be observed from space.
Keywords
