Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Space Science
Committee Chair
Robert Preece
Committee Member
Michael S. Briggs
Committee Member
Valerie Connaughton
Committee Member
Eric Grove
Committee Member
Phillip Bitzer
Committee Member
Jacob Heerikhuisen
Subject(s)
Thunderstorms, Gamma ray bursts, Electron beams
Abstract
Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) and Terrestrial Electron Beams (TEBs) make up an emerging field of study that unites the fields of atmospheric and space science. In this work, I investigate pairs of TGFs to find if their members are consistent with originating from the same thunderstorm cell. Ten pairs are found to have origins consistent form the same thunderstorm cell, which leads to a minimum electric field recharge time to be 10 s or less. TGFs with multiple pulses are analyzed in relation to their radio atmospheric signals (sferics). Previous work showed only an association with the last peak of multiple-pulsed TGFs, but we find that seven of the events have an association with either the first pulse or both pulses. This work leads to further implications to models of TGFs. Additionally, I search for TEB candidates in \textit{Fermi} Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (\textit{Fermi}-GBM) data. The search identifies six preponderance criteria and finds 30 possible TEBs. Lastly, a unique event, consisting of a TGF and TEB and observed by \textit{Fermi}-GBM, is analyzed. Using GRESS, I perform Monte Carlo simulations to compare with observations of both the TGF and TEB. The source relativistic electrons are independently calculated for each phenomenon and are found to be consistent from being produced by the same source.
Recommended Citation
Stanbro, Matthew C., "A study on terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and terrestrial electron beams" (2018). Dissertations. 164.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-dissertations/164