Lightning mapping observation of a terrestrial gamma-ray flash
Abstract
We report the observation with the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) related
to a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF) detected by RHESSI on 26 July 2008. The LMA
data explicitly show the TGF was produced during the initial development of a compact
intracloud (IC) lightning flash between a negative charge region centered at about
8.5 km above sea level (-22C temperature level) a higher positive region centered
at 13 km, both confined to the convective core of an isolated storm in close proximity
to the RHESSI footprint. After the occurrence of an LMA source with a high peak power
(26 kW), the initial lightning evolution caused an unusually large IC current moment
that became detectable 2 ms after the first LMA source and increased for another 2
ms, during which the burst of gamma-rays was produced. This slowly building current
moment was most likely associated with the upward leader progression, which produced
an uncommonly large IC charge moment change (+90 Ckm) in 3 ms while being punctuated
by a sequence of fast discharge. These observations suggest that the leader development
may be involved in the TGF production. Copyright © 2010 by the American Geophysical
Union.
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Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4116Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1029/2010GL043494Publication Info
Lu, G; Blakeslee, RJ; Li, J; Smith, DM; Shao, XM; McCaul, EW; ... Cummer, SA (2010). Lightning mapping observation of a terrestrial gamma-ray flash. Geophysical Research Letters, 37(11). pp. L11806. 10.1029/2010GL043494. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4116.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Steven A. Cummer
William H. Younger Distinguished Professor of Engineering
Dr. Steven Cummer received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University
in 1997 and prior to joining Duke University in 1999 he spent two years at NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center as an NRC postdoctoral research associate. Awards he has received
include a National Science Foundation CAREER award and a Presidential Early Career
Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2001. His current work is in a variety
of theoretical and experimental electromagnetic problems related to g

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