AGS-PRF: Next Generation of Gamma-ray Detectors Designed to Study Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes, Gamma-ray Glows and X-ray Stepped Leaders

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High-energy atmospheric physics is a relatively new field of study regarding high-energy radiation that is emitted by lightning in thunderstorms. There are three types of high-energy emission that have been observed in connection with thunderstorms so far: gamma-ray glows, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and x-ray stepped leaders. The research under this Postdoctoral Fellowship Award will seek to better measure, understand, and perhaps make a connection between these processes. This work will have societal benefit through improved understanding of radiation from thunderstorms, which has become a concern for airline crew and passengers. The project will also promote undergraduate education through a mentoring relationship and international collaboration through interaction with Japanese scientists.Gamma-ray glows, TGFs and x-ray stepped leaders are phenomena that may be related and can help explain the overall charging and discharging of a thunderstorm. This project targets the study of these three processes and outlines the development of cheap, fast and high-throughput gamma-ray detectors and their deployment to study uniquely low-topped thunderstorms in Japan. Four detectors will be built over two years at the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to the new measurement capability, the researcher will also be analyzing TGF data from already existing satellite and airborne instruments.