Shedding Light on Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes.
Dr. Rasha Abbasi and collaborators have conducted an exciting new study on one of nature’s most extreme phenomena: Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs).
"Lightning sometimes produces mysterious bursts of radiation called Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs). In our new study, we used the Telescope Array in Utah to investigate two lightning events that created TGFs, measuring the light given off before, during, and after the flashes. We found that although the two lightning strikes were very different in strength—one weak and one unusually strong—they showed a similar pattern in their light signals: ion emission lines appeared before and after the TGFs, while only neutral emission lines were recorded at the exact moment the TGFs occurred. This discovery provides new insight into the connection between lightning and TGFs, helping us better understand one of Earth’s most extreme natural processes."
Special thanks to Dr. Ny Kieu for her contributions to this work!