Intensive X-ray emission bursts during thunderstorms

The intensive X-ray emission during thunderstorms was studied at a height o f 3340 m above sea level. For the first time, short-time (1-5 min) bursts o f X-ray emission were observed. The bursts are highly correlated over a wid e space region (about 0.5 km). The main component of X-ray Emission in burs ts has energies between 50-80 keV. The observed bursts could be attributed to the bremsstrahlung determined by the runaway breakdown (RB) effect in th e thundercloud's electric field. Ground-based observations of RE open a wid e range of opportunities for the studies of fundamental processes in thunde rstorms. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.