Number of the records: 1
Significant enhancements of secondary cosmic rays and electric field at the high mountain peak of Lomnický Štít in High Tatras during thunderstorms
- 1.
SYSNO ASEP 0522381 Document Type J - Journal Article R&D Document Type Journal Article Subsidiary J Článek ve WOS Title Significant enhancements of secondary cosmic rays and electric field at the high mountain peak of Lomnický Štít in High Tatras during thunderstorms Author(s) Chum, Jaroslav (UFA-U) RID, ORCID
Langer, Ronald (UJF-V) ORCID, SAI
Baše, Jiří (UFA-U) RID, ORCID
Kollárik, M. (SK)
Strhárský, I. (SK)
Diendorfer, G. (AT)
Rusz, Jan (UFA-U) ORCID, RIDNumber of authors 7 Article number 28 Source Title Earth, Planets and Space. - : Springer
Roč. 72, č. 1 (2020)Number of pages 20 s. Language eng - English Country DE - Germany Keywords Thunderstorm ground enhancements of secondary cosmic ray flux ; Gamma-ray glows ; Neutron monitor ; Electron acceleration ; Particle detectors ; Extreme event ; Photonuclear reactions Subject RIV BL - Plasma and Gas Discharge Physics OECD category Fluids and plasma physics (including surface physics) Subject RIV - cooperation Nuclear Physics Institute - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology R&D Projects GA18-01969S GA ČR - Czech Science Foundation (CSF) EF15_003/0000481 GA MŠMT - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) Method of publishing Open access Institutional support UFA-U - RVO:68378289 ; UJF-V - RVO:61389005 UT WOS 000521040500002 EID SCOPUS 85080990912 DOI 10.1186/s40623-020-01155-9 Annotation High electric fields that occur in thunderstorm clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere might accelerate energetic charged particles produced by cosmic rays. Such energetic particles, especially electrons, can cause additional ionization as they are multiplied and thus form avalanche of relativistic electrons. These relativistic electrons emit Bremsstrahlung in the X- or gamma-ray spectral ranges as they lose their kinetic energy via collisions. Thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs) of secondary cosmic ray fluxes recorded at the top of a sharp rocky mountain of Lomnický Štít in High Tatras (2634 m, Slovak Republic) are compared with simultaneous measurements of electric field at the mountain top and on its slope at the observatory of Skalnaté Pleso (1780 m). Results of measurements performed from May to September in 2017 and from May to October in 2018 are presented. The cosmic ray flux is measured by Space Environment Viewing and Analysis Network (SEVAN) and by neutron monitor with 1-s resolution. The TGEs that persisted usually several minutes were mainly detected in the SEVAN channel 1 which has the lowest energy threshold, about 7–8 MeV. A statistical analysis shows that these enhancements usually occurred (not only) during large values of vertical, upward-pointing electric fields measured just above the detector. It is shown that the measurement of electric field at Skalnaté Pleso, distant about 1.86 km from the mountain top is also partly correlated with the enhancements and can provide additional useful information about the distance or dimension of charge structure and dynamics of electric field, especially on short time scales. The enhancements usually did not exceed several tens of percent of background values. However, events that exceeded the background values several times were also recorded. The most extreme event exceeded the background values about 215 times. This event was also detected by other SEVAN channels and by the neutron monitor (~ 130% enhancement), which indicates a possibility of photonuclear reactions. The enhancements were often terminated by a nearby lightning. Workplace Institute of Atmospheric Physics Contact Kateřina Adamovičová, adamovicova@ufa.cas.cz, Tel.: 272 016 012 ; Kateřina Potužníková, kaca@ufa.cas.cz, Tel.: 272 016 019 Year of Publishing 2020 Electronic address https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40623-020-01155-9#Abs1
Number of the records: 1