Gamma-ray emissions observed in a thunderstorm anvil

Balloon-borne gamma-ray and electric-field-change instruments were launched into a daytime summer thunderstorm to evaluate a new experimental design to test hypotheses for the production of transient luminous events (TLE) (eg. sprites, and blue jets) in the mesosphere. While ascending, the instrument triggered many times on the signals from the electric-field-change instrument, recording the gamma-ray background at those times. A greater than three-fold increase in the gamma-ray flux was observed as the balloon descended through a thunderstorm anvil where a strong electric field was suspected to be present. These observations suggest that gamma-ray production in thunderstorms may not be as uncommon as previously believed.