** Progress in Earth and Planetary Science is the official journal of the Japan Geoscience Union, published in collaboration with its society members.
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Research
Atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences
202405202405
Characteristics of temporal variability of long-duration bursts of high-energy radiation associated with thunderclouds on the Tibetan plateau
Tsuchiya H, Hibino K, Kawata K, Ohnishi M, Takita M, Munakata K, Kato C, Shimoda S, Shi Q, Wang S, Han C, Zhai LHarufumi Tsuchiya, Kinya Hibino, Kazumasa Kawata, Munehiro Ohnishi, Masato Takita, Kazuoki Munakata, Chihiro Kato, Susumu Shimoda, Quanqi Shi, Shuo Wang, Chenyao Han, Liuming Zhai
Thunderclouds, Particle acceleration, High-energy radiation, Time variability, Solar activity, Tibetan plateau
Comparison of the annual frequency of long-duration bursts observed on the Tibetan Plateau (red) with the annual changes in the sunspot number (black).
From 1998 to 2017, neutron monitors located at an altitude of 4300 m on the Tibetan plateau detected 127 long-duration bursts of high-energy radiation in association with thunderclouds. These bursts typically lasted for 10–40 min, and 89% of them occurred between 10:00 and 24:00 local time. They were also found to be more likely to occur at night, especially during 18:00–06:00 local time period. The observed diurnal and seasonal variations in burst frequency were consistent with the frequencies of lightning and precipitation on the Tibetan plateau. Based on 19 years of data, the present study suggests that an annual variation in burst frequency has a periodicity of ～ 16 years and a lag of ～ 3 years relative to solar activity.
