Observation and a Monte Carlo analysis of the energetic radiation associated with winter thunderstorm activities in Japan

Torii, Tatsuo  ; Okuyama, Shinichi ; Ishizuka, Akihiro ; Nozaki, Tatsuo ; Nawa, Yasunori*; Sugita, Takeshi*

ray dose-rate increases associated with winter thunderstorm activities have been observed at the coastal area of the Sea of Japan. The features are clarified from the measured data obtained by environmental radiation monitors. In order to investigate the generation of energetic radiation which originates in thunderstorm electric fields, we have calculated the behavior of secondary cosmic rays (electromagnetic component; muon) in electric fields with Monte Carlo method. In the calculation, the electron and photon fluxes have increased greatly in the region where the field strength exceeds about 280 P(z) kV/m-atm, where P(z) is the atmospheric pressure (atm) at altitude z (m),.and these energy spectra show a large increase in the energy region up to a few tens of MeV. We have also carried out the Monte Carlo calculations of the beta and rays emitted by radon progenies in thunderstorm electric fields. By the calculation for the radon progeny, the electron flux shows notable increases in the strong electric field region, while the photon flux does not fluctuate significantly. As well as the secondary cosmic rays, the radon progeny products form a large part of the energetic charged particles in the atmosphere. Therefore, they can serve as the source of a considerable amount of runaway electrons, through their ionization process with air molecules. These results indicate that the production of energetic electrons plays an important role in the intensive ionization of the air, and as a result a significant growth of electric conductivity in thunderstorm electric fields. These productions may also induce the lightning discharge by these processes.