Are tropical storms radioactive? The plane discovered an unusual phenomenon

Scientists from an international research team conducted research on tropical storms. The research results, published in the journal Nature, revealed that storms produce long-lasting gamma-ray afterglowsextending over huge areas of the atmosphere – even on over 9 thousand square kilometers. An entirely new type of gamma-ray bursts was also discovered.

Gamma-ray bursts (terrestrial gamma-ray flashes – TGF) are a phenomenon observed from space since the 1990s. This type of radiation was previously known, but the research team discovered a new, slightly different phenomenon – the so-called “flickering gamma ray bursts” (flickering gamma-ray flashes – FGF), which can be located between short-lived flashes and longer radiation afterglows.

FGFs are much weaker from the TGF, therefore requiring very close contact with storm clouds, this was made possible by the use of a modified Cold War spy plane U-2whose current user is NASA.

As physicist Martino Marisaldi from the University of Bergen explains, FGFs are somewhat mysterious. Although they are radio quietmay be closely related to impulsive discharges in this spectrum, called narrow bipolar events, which often accompany the onset of lightning discharges.

One of the key findings is that FGF and TGF can have close connection with the formation of lightning. Previous research based on satellite data had already suggested that gamma-ray bursts sometimes precede lightning, but results from the spy plane revealed that the ratio of TGF discharges to lightning may be much higher than previously thought. In fact, it may be even 1:100 instead of 1:10,000, which means that gamma-ray bursts may play a much more important role in the formation of lightning.

These studies also rule out other theories regarding the formation of lightning, including: pilot discharge, leaving the so-called positron feedback as the main mechanism causing these phenomena.

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