Hardening and termination of long-duration γ rays detected prior to lightning.
Phys Rev Lett
; 111(1): 015001, 2013 Jul 05.
Article
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| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23863005
ABSTRACT
We report the first observation of 3-30 MeV prolonged gamma-ray emission that was abruptly terminated by lightning. The gamma-ray detection was made during winter thunderstorms on December 30, 2010, by the Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter Thunderclouds experiment carried out in a coastal area along the Sea of Japan. The gamma-ray flux lasted for less than 3 min, continuously hardening closer to the lightning occurrence. The hardening at energies of 3-10 MeV energies was most prominent. The gamma-ray flux abruptly ceased less than 800 ms before the lightning flash that occurred over 5 km away from the experimental site. In addition, we observed a clear difference in the duration of the 3-10 MeV gamma rays and those >10 MeV, suggesting that the area of >10 MeV gamma-ray emission is considerably smaller than that of the lower-energy gamma rays. This work may give a manifestation that a local region emitting prolonged gamma rays connects with a distant region to initiate lightning.
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Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Phys Rev Lett
Año:
2013
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Japón