Thunderstorm ground enhancements abruptly terminated by a Lightning flash

Abstract

<p>Thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs) registered on Aragats research station (530 events during  2008-2021) are frequently interrupted by the nearby lightning flashes. We are monitoring charged and neutral particle fluxes, near-surface electric field, distance to lightning flash, and numerous meteorological parameters 24/7. Our datasets [1,2] contains 165 TGEs interrupted mostly by the negative cloud-to-ground discharges (-CGs: 50%, inverted intracloud (IC) flashes followed by –CGs: 21%, inverted ICs: 18%, normal ICs:11%). The mean distance to the lightning flash estimated by EFM-100 electric mill is 5.8 +/- 3.1 km (based on 130 TGEs). Mean distance, estimated by a smaller subsample (18 TGEs) of this dataset, which contains also an estimate made by the worldwide lightning located network (WWLLN) is 6.6 +/- 5.6 km, by EFM – 4.5 +/- 2.6 km. The times of lightning occurrences measured by Aragats facilities and by the WWLLN coincide within a few microseconds. TGEs were interrupted by lightning during positive and negative near-surface electric fields. The TGEs which started at the negative (positive) near-surface electric field and terminated during the positive (negative) electric field were also observed.</p>