SAN FRANCISCO — Thunderstorms of all shapes and sized produce high-energy gamma ray bursts, which are potentially harmful to pilots and passengers of aircraft in extraordinarily rare circumstances, scientists reported for the first time on Monday. These bursts of energy, which are thousands of times more intense than typical X-rays, are far more common than once thought as well, occurring on the order of an estimated 1,100 times per day worldwide or more
The new research, presented at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco, wipes clean longstanding assumptions about mysterious high-energy bursts of electrons that have been observed in the upper atmosphere, associated with thunderstorms, since 1994. Gamma ray bursts originating within the planet's atmosphere are also known as terrestrial gamma flashes, or TGFs. Before the 1990s, it had been assumed that all gamma rays originated outside of the atmosphere, coming toward the Earth from the sun or other high energy sources. Read more...
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from MashableAndrew Freedman
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