Summer 2016 - Seeking low altitude terrestrial gamma-ray flashes via high altitude balloon

Affiliations:
Project Leader:	Nathaniel Peirson npeirson@tamu.edu Engineering
Faculty Mentor:	Sharath Girimaji, Ph.D.
Meeting Times:	Summer 2016 (complete)
Team Size:	6 (Team Full)
Open Spots:	0
Special Opportunities:	Take part in front-line science and research. Actively engaged participants will be granted co-authorship on publications. Opportunities in any research continuation.
Team Needs:	Electrical engineering students, or students familiar with electronics design. Nuclear engineering students, or students familiar with scintillation counters. Students interested in atmospheric sciences / meteorology.
Description:	High energy gamma radiation bursts have been detected above lightning strikes, and the causal mechanism remains unclear. One model, elegantly complementary to recent discoveries regarding lightning-strike initiations, suggests that these radiation bursts should be able to occur in the lower regions of thunderstorms, but atmospheric attenuation prevents orbital observation below ~11 km; no such events have yet been recorded. This project will attempt to observe these hypothetical events, as well as the atmospheric conditions surrounding their occurrences, with instrument payloads carried by specialized weather balloon systems.