Major
Physics
Anticipated Graduation Year
2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Acquiring knowledge of electric field strength and structure inside a thunderstorm is key to understanding lightning initation. Given data from the Telescope Array Surface Detector (TASD), we observed variations in cosmic ray shower intensity. These variations were found to be between 0.5-1% with and up to 2-3%, detected in both deficit and excess, and correlated with lightning and thunderstorms. To study these variations, we ran simulations of electric fields within thunderstorms using CORSIKA. These simulations yielded a result of electric field magnitude variations between 0.2-0.4V, which in turn has informed our understanding of the electric field within storms.
Community Partners
Telescope Array (TA) Collaboration
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Rasha Abbasi, Assistant Professor, Physics Department;
Supported By
Nour Husseini, Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy; Hans Johnson, Illinois Institute of Technology; Joe Mazich, Northwestern University
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Measuring the Electric Field During Thunderstorms Using the Telescope Array Surface Detector
Acquiring knowledge of electric field strength and structure inside a thunderstorm is key to understanding lightning initation. Given data from the Telescope Array Surface Detector (TASD), we observed variations in cosmic ray shower intensity. These variations were found to be between 0.5-1% with and up to 2-3%, detected in both deficit and excess, and correlated with lightning and thunderstorms. To study these variations, we ran simulations of electric fields within thunderstorms using CORSIKA. These simulations yielded a result of electric field magnitude variations between 0.2-0.4V, which in turn has informed our understanding of the electric field within storms.