Abstract
In 2015, the Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter Thunderstorms (GROWTH) collaboration launched a mapping observation campaign for high-energy atmospheric phenomena related to thunderstorms and lightning discharges. This campaign has developed a detection network of gamma rays with up to 10 radiation monitors installed in the cities of Kanazawa and Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, where low-charge-center winter thunderstorms frequently occur. During four winter seasons from October 2016 to April 2020, a total of 70 gamma-ray glows, i.e., minute-lasting bursts of gamma rays originating from thunderclouds, were detected. Their average duration is 58.9 s. Among the detected events, 77% were observed at night. The gamma-ray glows can be classified into temporally symmetric, temporally asymmetric, and lightning-terminated types based on their count-rate histories. An averaged energy spectrum of the gamma-ray glows is well fitted with a power-law function with an exponential cutoff, whose photon index, cutoff energy, and flux are MeV, MeV, and erg (0.2–20.0 MeV), respectively. The present paper provides a catalog of gamma-ray glows and their statistical analysis detected during winter thunderstorms in the Kanazawa and Komatsu areas.
- Received 4 August 2021
- Accepted 26 October 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.043117
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
