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Measurement of the Electrical Properties of a Thundercloud Through Muon Imaging by the GRAPES-3 Experiment

B. Hariharan, A. Chandra, S. R. Dugad, S. K. Gupta, P. Jagadeesan, A. Jain, P. K. Mohanty, S. D. Morris, P. K. Nayak, P. S. Rakshe, K. Ramesh, B. S. Rao, L. V. Reddy, M. Zuberi, Y. Hayashi, S. Kawakami, S. Ahmad, H. Kojima, A. Oshima, S. Shibata, Y. Muraki, and K. Tanaka (GRAPES-3 Collaboration)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 105101 – Published 15 March 2019
Physics logo See Focus story: Muons Reveal Record-Breaking Thunderstorm Voltage

Abstract

The GRAPES-3 muon telescope located in Ooty, India records rapid (10min) variations in the muon intensity during major thunderstorms. Out of a total of 184 thunderstorms recorded during the interval of April 2011–December 2014, the one on December 1, 2014 produced a massive potential of 1.3 GV. The electric field measured by four well-separated (up to 6 km) monitors on the ground was used to help estimate some of the properties of this thundercloud, including its altitude and area that were found to be 11.4 km above mean sea level and 380km2, respectively. A charging time of 6 min to reach 1.3 GV implied the delivery of a power of 2GW by this thundercloud that was moving at a speed of 60kmh1. This work possibly provides the first direct evidence for the generation of gigavolt potentials in thunderclouds that could also possibly explain the production of highest-energy (100 MeV) gamma rays in the terrestrial gamma-ray flashes.

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  • Received 6 January 2019
  • Revised 21 January 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.105101

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

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Muons Reveal Record-Breaking Thunderstorm Voltage

Published 15 March 2019

A thunderstorm probed with atmospheric muons had an electric potential exceeding one billion volts, much higher than values measured previously.  

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Authors & Affiliations

B. Hariharan1,2, A. Chandra1,2, S. R. Dugad1,2, S. K. Gupta1,2,*, P. Jagadeesan1,2, A. Jain1,2, P. K. Mohanty1,2, S. D. Morris1,2, P. K. Nayak1,2, P. S. Rakshe1,2, K. Ramesh1,2, B. S. Rao1,2, L. V. Reddy1,2, M. Zuberi1,2, Y. Hayashi2,3, S. Kawakami2,3, S. Ahmad2,4, H. Kojima2,5, A. Oshima2,5, S. Shibata2,5, Y. Muraki2,6, and K. Tanaka2,7 (GRAPES-3 Collaboration)

  • 1Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400005, India
  • 2Cosmic Ray Laboratory, Raj Bhavan, Ooty 643001, India
  • 3Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 558-8585, Japan
  • 4Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India
  • 5College of Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi 487-8501, Japan
  • 6Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 446-8601, Japan
  • 7Graduate School of Information Sciences, Hiroshima City University, Hiroshima 731-3194, Japan

  • *gupta.crl@gmail.com

Comments & Replies

Comment on “Measurement of the Electrical Properties of a Thundercloud through Muon Imaging by the GRAPES-3 Experiment”

A. Chilingarian, G. Hovsepyan, E. Svechnikova, and E. Mareev
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 019501 (2020)

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Vol. 122, Iss. 10 — 15 March 2019

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