High peak-current lightning discharges associated with downward terrestrial gamma-ray flashes

Wada, Yuki*; Enoto, Teruaki*; Nakamura, Yoshitaka*; Morimoto, Takeshi*; Sato, Mitsuteru*; Ushio, Tomoo*; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro*; Yuasa, Takayuki*; Yonetoku, Daisuke*; Sawano, Tatsuya*; Kamogawa, Masashi*; Sakai, Hideo*; Furuta, Yoshihiro; Makishima, Kazuo*; Tsuchiya, Harufumi 

During 2017-2018 winter operation of the Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter Thunderclouds experiment in Japan, two downward terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) that triggered atmospheric photonuclear reactions were detected. They took place during winter thunderstorms on 5 December 2017 and 9 January 2018 at Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Each event coincided with an intracloud/intercloud discharge, which had a negative-polarity peak current higher than 150 kA. Their radio waveforms in the low-frequency band are categorized as a distinct lightning type called energetic in-cloud pulse (EIP). Negative-polarity EIPs have been previously suggested to be highly associated with downward TGFs, and the present observations provide evidence of the correlation between them for the first time. Furthermore, both of the downward TGFs followed gamma-ray glows, minute-lasting high-energy emissions from thunderclouds. It is suggested that the negative EIPs took place with downward propagating negative leaders or upward positive ones developed in highly electrified regions responsible for the gamma-ray glows.