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View article: Hunting for Gamma Rays above Thunderstorms: The ALOFT Campaign
Hunting for Gamma Rays above Thunderstorms: The ALOFT Campaign Open
An internationally collaborative airborne campaign in July 2023—led by the University of Bergen (Norway) and NASA, with contributions from many other institutions—discovered that thunderstorms near Florida and Central America produce gamma…
View article: New Class of Gamma-Ray Flashes Indicate Gamma Glow Reset through Fast Streamer Discharge.
New Class of Gamma-Ray Flashes Indicate Gamma Glow Reset through Fast Streamer Discharge. Open
Recent aircraft campaign over the Caribbean region in July 2023, called ALOFT, resulted in several discoveries that significantly improved our understanding of atmospheric gamma-ray phenomena. It was demonstrated that strong convective sys…
View article: Investigating the termination mechanisms of gamma-ray glows observed during the ALOFT aircraft campaign
Investigating the termination mechanisms of gamma-ray glows observed during the ALOFT aircraft campaign Open
During the Airborne Lightning Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT) campaign conducted in the summer of 2023, hundreds of gamma-ray glows were observed. Numerous glow regions, each consisting of several individual glows, were observed as t…
View article: Testing the hypothesis of lightning initiation by runaway air breakdown with ALOFT data
Testing the hypothesis of lightning initiation by runaway air breakdown with ALOFT data Open
Lightning initiation is one of the top unsolved problems in atmospheric electricity. Runaway electron breakdown of air has been suggested to play a key role in lightning initiation, by locally enhancing the ambient electric field above the…
View article: Evidence of a New Population of Weak Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes Observed From Aircraft Altitude
Evidence of a New Population of Weak Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes Observed From Aircraft Altitude Open
Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes (TGFs) are ten‐to‐hundreds of microsecond bursts of gamma‐rays produced when electrons in strong electric fields in thunderclouds are accelerated to relativistic energies. Space instruments have observed TGFs …
View article: 3D Geolocation of Simulated Lightning Sources from Low-Earth Orbit
3D Geolocation of Simulated Lightning Sources from Low-Earth Orbit Open
The recent removal of the Lightning Imaging Sensor from the International Space Station has left an observational gap in lightning detection from low-Earth orbit (LEO). However, new studies have demonstrated the potential for 3D geolocatio…
View article: TGF and gamma-ray glow highlights from the ALOFT 2023 flight campaign
TGF and gamma-ray glow highlights from the ALOFT 2023 flight campaign Open
During the summer of 2023 the  Airborne Lighting Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT) field campaign was performed. With a NASA ER-2 research aircraft, flying at 20 km altitude, ALOFT was searching for Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (…
View article: A novel view of gamma-ray glows from the ALOFT 2023 flight campaign
A novel view of gamma-ray glows from the ALOFT 2023 flight campaign Open
The Airborne Lightning Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT) was a field campaign targeted at Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows from thunderclouds. The campaign was successfully carried out during July 2023, for a to…
View article: Spectral Analysis of High-Energy Radiation Events Observed during the ALOFT 2023 Campaign
Spectral Analysis of High-Energy Radiation Events Observed during the ALOFT 2023 Campaign Open
The Airborne Lighting Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT) is equipped with a comprehensive set of instruments on-board a NASA ER-2 research aircraft for observing Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows from thundercloud…
View article: Glow-terminating terrestrial gamma-ray flashes observed during the ALOFT Campaign
Glow-terminating terrestrial gamma-ray flashes observed during the ALOFT Campaign Open
The ALOFT campaign targeted aircraft measurements of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) through NASA ER-2 overflights of strong thunderstorms.  We report here the analysis of glow-terminating TGFs (GT-TGFs) that occur at the end of …
View article: The scientific payload of the ALOFT mission to chase Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes and gamma-ray glows
The scientific payload of the ALOFT mission to chase Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes and gamma-ray glows Open
ALOFT (Airborne Lightning Observatory for FEGS and TGFs) is a flight campaign designed to observe Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGF) and gamma-ray glows close to their production source. The campaign consists of 50 flight hours of a NASA …
View article: The ALOFT mission: a flight campaign for TGF and gamma-ray glow observations over Central America and the Caribbean in July 2023
The ALOFT mission: a flight campaign for TGF and gamma-ray glow observations over Central America and the Caribbean in July 2023 Open
The Airborne Lighting Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT)  is a field campaign focused on observing Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows from thunderclouds. ALOFT will be flown on a NASA ER-2 research aircraft, f…
View article: A Rapid Gamma‐Ray Glow Flux Reduction Observed From 20 km Altitude
A Rapid Gamma‐Ray Glow Flux Reduction Observed From 20 km Altitude Open
Two gamma‐ray glows were observed by a high‐altitude NASA ER‐2 aircraft flying at 20 km altitude over a thunderstorm in Colorado, USA. The flux of the first glow rapidly intensified and then abruptly decreased within a few tens of millisec…
View article: Airborne radiometric validation of the geostationary lightning mapper using the Fly’s Eye GLM Simulator
Airborne radiometric validation of the geostationary lightning mapper using the Fly’s Eye GLM Simulator Open
The Fly's Eye GLM Simulator (FEGS) is a multi-spectral array of radiometers designed to provide a validation dataset for the geostationary lightning mapper (GLM). The main component of FEGS is a 5 × 5 grid of radiometers, each with a squar…
View article: The Plasma Nature of Lightning Channels and the Resulting Nonlinear Resistance
The Plasma Nature of Lightning Channels and the Resulting Nonlinear Resistance Open
Lightning channels are made of plasma. As a consequence, the driving electrical current changes the channel's resistance in a nonlinear fashion. The resistance has an intricate dependence on the history of Joule heating and various cooling…
View article: Optical power and energy radiated by return strokes in rocket‐triggered lightning
Optical power and energy radiated by return strokes in rocket‐triggered lightning Open
The broadband optical radiation covering the visible and near‐infrared (VNIR) spectral regions (0.4–1.0 μm) has been measured from 70 negative return strokes (RS) in rocket‐triggered lightning; 17 events were recorded in 2011, and 53 were …