Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmae33b0299g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #AE33B-0299
Physics
[3304] Atmospheric Processes / Atmospheric Electricity, [3324] Atmospheric Processes / Lightning
Scientific paper
Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) are short, intense bursts of X-rays and gamma rays observed by satellites as they fly over thunderstorms. Here we present an overview of the extensive catalog of TGFs observed by the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) satellite, which has observed over 900 TGFs since its launch in 2002. We will give an overview of the publicly available TGF catalog, concentrating on some of the statistical properties of the data including the distribution of TGF brightnesses and durations and the possible selection bias in the data caused by the TGF search algorithm. We also compare the seasonal and geographical occurrence maps of TGFs with those of average global lightning occurrence. It has been previously suggested that the differences between the TGF and the lightning maps are primarily due to RHESSI preferentially detecting TGFs at high altitudes. We find that changes in the atmospheric transmission to seasonal and geographical variability in the tropopause height can play a significant role in explaining the differences these two maps. However, additional factors are needed to explain the remaining local differences.
Dwyer Joesph R.
Grefenstette Brian
Hazelton Bryna J.
Smith Masson D.
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