EAGER: Observations of High-Energy Radiation from Lightning from a Mobile Platform

这项研究包括一个夏季活动，利用阿黛尔（高能闪电发射机载探测器）观测与雷暴闪电有关的高能辐射。阿黛尔是由美国国家科学基金会的主要研究仪器项目资助建造的。这项研究更具有探索性，需要在今年夏天迅速部署研究小组和仪器到实地。阿黛尔将被一辆面包车运送到闪电放电的附近。这项运动将主要在佛罗里达州中部进行，在新墨西哥州的高海拔地区进行几天的初步观察。收集的数据将在实地活动后进行分析。知识价值。相对论失控是指高能电子在与空气原子碰撞时自我增殖并产生x射线和伽马射线的过程，它发生在雷暴中的各种时间尺度和条件下，可能涉及阶跃前导传播、闪电引发和限制空气中可达到的最大电场。即使在高能辐射不起控制作用的地方，它也可以作为不容易接近的地区（例如领导人的头部）的现场条件的诊断。通过首次将仪器实时带到闪电中，阿黛尔的活动将导致每天比固定探测器获得更高的伽马射线数据量。阿黛尔传回的伽马射线数据将与杜克大学和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的长期合作伙伴提供的气象数据和闪电射电发射观测数据相结合。更广泛的影响。本研究可增进对大气电学的认识，拓宽社会对雷暴闪电活动的认识。我们希望这次活动能够证明风暴追踪测量在这一研究领域的价值，并在未来的道路上产生更大的项目。加州大学圣克鲁斯分校（University of California, Santa Cruz）和佛罗里达理工学院（Florida Institute of Technology）的科学团队致力于将研究生和本科生纳入美国国家科学基金会（nsf）资助的研究项目中，并且在学生参与研究方面有着悠久的成功历史。

This research consists of a summer campaign of observing high-energy radiation associated with thunderstorm lightning using ADELE, the Airborne Detector for Energetic Lightning Emissions. ADELE was built with funding from NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program. This study is more in an exploratory nature, and requires expeditious deployment of the research team and instruments to the field in this coming summer. ADELE will be carried to the vicinity of lightning discharges in a van. The campaign will take place mostly in central Florida, with a preliminary few days of observing at high-altitude sites in New Mexico. Collected data will be analyzed after the field campaign.Intellectual Merit. Relativistic runaway, a process in which high-energy electrons multiply themselves and produce x-rays and gamma-rays when they collide with the atoms of air, occurs at various timescales and conditions in thunderstorms and may be involved in stepped-leader propagation, lightning initiation, and in limiting the maximum electric field attainable in air. Even where the high-energy radiation does not play a controlling role, it can serve as a diagnostic of the field conditions in regions, such as the head of a leader, which are not easily accessible.By taking the instrument to the lightning in real time for the first time, ADELE's campaign should result in a much higher yield of gamma-ray data per day than can be obtained by stationary detectors. The gamma-ray data returned by ADELE will be combined with meteorological data and observations of radio emission by lightning provided by long-term collaborators at Duke University and Los Alamos National Laboratories. Broader Impacts. This research may enhance the understanding of atmospheric electricity, and broaden the society's awareness of thunderstorm lightning activity. We expect this campaign to prove the value of storm-chasing measurements in this field of research and to result in larger programs down the road. The science teams at University of California, Santa Cruz and the Florida Institute of Technology are dedicated to the inclusion of graduate and undergraduate students in NSF-funded research projects, and have long histories of successful student involvement.