Collaborative Research: Airborne Detector for Energetic Lightning Emissions (ADELE) Operations on the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel

这是一个观测雷暴发出的X射线和伽马射线的程序。将观察到两种已知现象：令人难以置信的明亮、快速的地面伽马射线闪光(TGFs)和？辉光？从活跃的雷暴单体顶部发出的伽马射线。高能闪电发射机载探测器(Adele)是一套伽马射线探测器和辅助电子设备。在以前的飞行中，我们发现了从飞机上看到的第一个转化生长因子，设定了强大的上限，表明转化生长因子与1%的闪电有关，并确定了辉光相当常见，并延伸到5兆瓦的能量。ADELE将被改装成乘坐全球鹰无人机在18公里处飞行，作为美国宇航局S飓风和强风暴哨兵(HS3)任务的一部分，这将提供300小时的飞行时间，飞越热带风暴和大西洋飓风。将执行的活动包括为新飞机改装仪器，将其集成到机上，通过从美国国家航空航天局S德莱登飞行设施实时监测我们的仪器参与活动，分析数据，以及发布和传播结果。杜克大学的科学家将提供同步的宽带射频数据，以解释与TGFs对应的闪电行为和观察到的发光周期。来自佛罗里达理工大学的科学家将提供气象支持和解释，并将对与TGFs和辉光相关的高能过程进行建模。NASA的合作者理查德·布莱克斯利和他的同事们将从闪电仪器包中提供详细的风暴电学测量，包括闪电、电场、空气传导性和风暴电流，闪电仪器包将在HS3期间同时在全球鹰上飞行。通过测量辉光的强度和光谱，并将伽马射线数据与同一风暴的闪电数据和现场电场和电导率数据(由HS3上的其他仪器提供)进行比较，将确定这些辉光是否代表由带反馈的相对论击穿引起的显著电流。将开发一种新的工具，通过伽马射线发射的光谱、强度和形状来估计风暴上层的电场的大小和范围。阿黛尔的飞行将极大地改善对最近发现的现象的看法，这些现象可能在雷云放电和闪电引发的物理学中发挥作用。发现来自巨型喷气式飞机和精灵的高能辐射是一种可能，因为这将是第一次将灵敏的高能探测器带到这些现象附近。BROADER Impact该计划将培训几名研究生和本科生，其中一些已经与阿黛尔有关，另一些是新的，掌握仪器开发、编程、野外工作、数据分析和出版的技能。转化生长因子的测量(检测和未检测)还将帮助我们解决公共卫生问题，即飞机乘客暴露在转化生长因子辐射剂量下的频率(如果有的话)。在直接形成TGFs的区域内(可能不到一平方公里)，剂量可能高达非辐射工作者年限量的100倍。

This is a program to observe x-rays and gamma-rays emitted by thunderstorms. Two known phenomena will be observed: the incredibly bright, fast terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and ?glows? of gamma-rays emanating from the tops of active thunderstorm cells. The Airborne Detector for Energetic Lightning Emissions (ADELE) is a set of gamma-ray detectors and supporting electronics. In previous flights, it was found that the first TGF seen from an aircraft, set strong upper limits showing that TGFs are associated with 1% of lightning flashes, and established that glows are quite common and extend to energies 5 MeV.ADELE will be adapted to fly on a Global Hawk drone at 18 km as part of NASA?s Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission, which will provide 300 hours of flight time over tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic. The activities to be performed include adapting the instrument for the new aircraft, integrating it onboard, participating in the campaigns by monitoring our instrument in real time from NASA?s Dryden flight facility, analyzing the data, and publishing and disseminating the results. Scientists from Duke University will provide simultaneous broad-band radio-frequency data to interpret the behavior of lightning corresponding to TGFs and the periods in which glows are observed. Scientists from Florida Tech will provide meteorological support and interpretation and will model the high-energy processes associated with TGFs and glows. NASA Collaborator Richard Blakeslee and colleagues will provide detailed storm electrical measurements, including lightning, electric fields, air conductivity, and storm currents, from the Lightning Instrument Package which will be simultaneously flown on the Global Hawk during HS3.INTELLECTUAL MERIT The scientific goals embrace understanding the physical mechanism behind TGFs and glows and searching for high-energy emission associated with two other phenomena: gigantic jets and elves. The measurements of the intensity and spectrum of glows and the comparison of the gamma-ray data with lightning data from the same storm and in-situ electric field and conductivity data (provided by other instruments on HS3) will determine whether the glows represent a significant current caused by relativistic breakdown with feedback. A new tool for estimating the magnitude and extent of the electric field in the upper layers of storms via the spectrum, intensity, and shape of the gamma-ray emission will be developed. The ADELE flights will give dramatically improved views of recently-discovered phenomena that may play a role in thundercloud discharging and the physics of lightning initiation. The discovery of high-energy radiation from gigantic jets and elves, both of which should involve high electric fields, is a possibility, since this would represent the first time a sensitive high-energy detector was taken into the vicinity of these phenomena.BROADER IMPACTS The program will train several graduate and undergraduate students, some already involved with ADELE and some new, in the skills of instrument development, programming, field work, data analysis, and publication. The TGF measurements (both detections and non-detections) will also help us address the public health question of how often (if ever) aircraft passengers are exposed to the radiation dose of a TGF. Directly within the region where TGFs are formed (probably less than a square kilometer), the dose could be up to 100 times the annual limit for non-radiation-workers.