Project Info

Mysterious Light Flashes observed high above strong lightning by the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory

Lawrence Wiencke | lwiencke@mines.edu

Strong lightning is a signature of strong convective storms. The Cordoba region in Argentina is known for the highest rate of strong lightning on earth. The extreme storms in this region may offer a proxy for storms of the future as the climate warms. It turns out that the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory near Malargue Argentina has an observing footprint that extends over this interesting region and has recorded some 1600 optical flashes in the ionosphere (90 km elevation) above strong lightning from these storms. These events are a class of phenomena dubbed Transient Luminous Events. It turns out that this Observatory has the best sensitivity in the world for this phenonena. The observatory has also recorded other TLEs that are not identified, and data collection continues. This is a chance to study an interesting physics phenomena using new data with discovery potential. The exact scope of the project would be taylored to the student’s interest and starting level.

More Information

www.auger.org
https://arxiv.org/abs/0907.4282 Pierre Auger Fluorescence Detector
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7moax09mf3ohny9/Elves_Paper_Submitted_Feb_2019.pdf?dl=0

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