Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 41, Issue 23, Pages 8586-8593Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2014GL062196
Keywords
terrestrial gamma ray flash; lightning
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation Dynamic and Physical Meteorology program [ATM-1047588]
- DARPA Nimbus program [HR0011-10-1-0059, HR0011-10-1-0061]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences [1047588, 1042198] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Many details of how thunderstorms generate terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) and other forms of high-energy radiation remain uncertain, including the basic question of where they are produced. We exploit the association of distinct low-frequency radio emissions with generation of terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) to directly measure for the first time the TGF source altitude. Analysis of two events reveals source altitudes of 11.80.4 km and 11.90.9 km. This places the source region in the interior of the thunderstorm between the two main charge layers and implies an intrinsic TGF brightness of approximately 10(18) runaway electrons. The electric current in this nontraditional lightning process is found to be strong enough to drive nonlinear effects in the ionosphere, and in one case is comparable to the highest peak current lightning processes on the planet.
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