During the lightning strikes that accompanied Hurricane Patricia in 2015, scientists recorded the flows of positrons - antiparticles of electrons. Antimatter particles cause bursts of high energy light in the gamma and X-ray range. An article with the results was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
In the center of powerful cyclones there is an area of relatively good weather with no precipitation and wind - the eye of a hurricane. On its border, where large clouds are located, the weather deteriorates sharply, strong winds begin to blow, it is raining, and lightning flashes. During one of the most powerful hurricanes of our time, Patricia, which was raging off the coast of Mexico and the United States, a research plane from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration flew through the area of the storm's greatest intensity. For the first time in the history of hurricane studies, his instruments were able to record the flux of positrons.
Physicists were not shocked by the discovery, since similar streams of antiparticles directed towards the earth predicted models of terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF) - natural atmospheric processes associated with lightning, which have already been repeatedly recorded by various instruments. "This is the first confirmation of the theoretical prediction that the TFG is accompanied by high-energy radiation moving from top to bottom through the atmosphere," said co-author David Smith of the University of California, Santa Cruz. - Such a phenomenon could be registered from orbit, like most of the detected TGFs, since the stream of electrons is directed upward. We saw the process from below - the positrons move in the opposite direction."
The results of scientists show that to register positrons it is not necessary to fly to the center of the hurricane - their radiation can be detected at altitudes of 1.5 kilometers. Strong electric fields during lightning accelerate charged particles to near-light speeds. When scattered by atoms in the atmosphere, they generate X-rays and gamma rays. Despite the confirmation of the theory, many aspects of terrestrial gamma-ray bursts have not yet been fully understood by scientists. “This is an unusual phenomenon, and we still don't understand why they are so bright,” sums up Smith.