Why Schonland Failed in His Search for Runaway Electrons From Thunderstorms
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B.F.J. Schonland, advised and encouraged by C.T.R. Wilson, made two unsuccessful searches forrunaway electrons from thunderstorms in the 1930s. These findings stand in marked contrast with researchresults over the last decade and ironically set this field of research back many decades. Schonland's lack ofsuccess is traced to gamma ray attenuation in the atmosphere above Johannesburg (1,780 m MSL) and to hisrestriction to nine thunderstorms.
Date issued
2025-05-22Department
Parsons Laboratory for Environmental Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
Chilingarian, A., Williams, E., Hovsepyan, G., & Mkrtchyan, H. (2025). Why schonland failed in his search for runaway electrons from thunderstorms. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130, e2024JD042350.
Version: Final published version