Dataset for 16 parameters of ten thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs) allowing recovery of electron energy spectra and estimation the structure of the electric field above earth’s surface

The atmospheric electric field not only initiates lightning flashes but also originates huge fluxes of electrons and gamma rays incident on the earth’s surface. To reach a complete understanding of both phenomena and to find new and easily measured indicators of the global change in the climate system, the monitoring of the atmospheric electric fields is vitally demanded. Commercially available electric field meters are monitoring the near-surface (NS) atmospheric electric field worldwide in different weather conditions. Special sensors are designed for airborne measurements of the electric field profile with meteorological balloon systems. However, balloon measurements are rare and very slow (20-40 minutes to traverse a storm), performing measurements along the uncontrolled and random flight path, balloons are often taken away by the wind or occasionally destroyed by a lightning flash. However, till now balloon soundings provide the only available data to sample the depth of a storm. Based on these measurements overall understanding was reached that a strong electric field above 1.0 kV/cm started on heights above 1-2 km from the earth's surface. Large electric fields were measured well above 2 km over the ground. Although we cannot expect the same behavior at different destinate ions, the overall understanding in the atmospheric physics community is that strength of the electric field at altitudes below 1-2 km above ground is well below the critical energy necessary for a runaway process (accelerating and multiplying electrons from the ambient population of cosmic rays). The electron energy spectra measured at Aragats at an altitude of 3200, in this concern, are attributed to the Compton scattered electrons originated by a “gamma ray beam”, from the relativistic electron-gamma ray cascades unleashed high in the atmosphere. In the posted dataset we demonstrate that, at Aragats, a strong accelerating electric field can be continued almost to the earth’s surface. We present 10 TGE events observed in 2018-2021 allowing recovering electron energy spectra and estimating the heights of the termination of the strong electric field above the ground. The estimates vary from 10 to 150 m above ground, thus the electric field can reach ≈ 2.0 kV/cm at altitudes 3250 – 3350 m.

大气电场不仅可引发闪电闪击，还会产生大量轰击地球表面的电子与γ射线通量。为全面理解这两类现象，并找到气候系统全球变化的新型易测指标，对大气电场的监测至关重要。目前，商用电场仪已在全球范围内的不同天气条件下开展近地面（near-surface, NS）大气电场监测。科研人员还设计了专用传感器，配合气象气球系统开展电场剖面的空中测量。不过，气球探测存在诸多局限：探测频次极低且耗时极长（穿越一次雷暴需20至40分钟），且沿不受控的随机飞行路径开展测量，气球常被风吹走，或偶尔被闪电击毁。但迄今为止，气球探空仍是获取雷暴垂直深度数据的唯一可行手段。基于此类测量，大气物理学界已形成共识：强度达1.0 kV/cm以上的强电场，起始于距地表1至2千米的高空，且在地表以上2千米的高空可测得极强电场。尽管不同区域的电场表现或存在差异，但学界普遍认为：距地表1至2千米以下的高空电场强度，远低于逃逸过程（即从宇宙射线本底群体中加速并增殖电子的过程）所需的临界能量。在此背景下，阿拉加茨（Aragats）海拔3200米处测得的电子能谱，被归因于来自"γ射线束"的康普顿散射电子——该γ射线束源自高层大气中释放的相对论性电子-γ射线级联过程。在本次发布的数据集中，我们证明在阿拉加茨地区，强加速电场可几乎延伸至地球表面。我们展示了2018至2021年间观测到的10次雷暴γ射线增强（Thunderstorm Gamma-ray Enhancement, TGE）事件，通过这些事件可复原电子能谱，并估算出强电场终止于地表以上的高度。估算结果介于10至150米之间，因此在海拔3250至3350米处，电场强度可达约2.0 kV/cm。