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Accepted · first revision · record

Title: Is relativistic runaway a significant way thunderclouds lose charge?
Plain: Many storms glow faintly in gamma rays for seconds to minutes. If the electron avalanches behind the glow carry enough current, they could be a hidden way that clouds discharge besides lightning.
Precise: Determine the fraction of thundercloud charging current dissipated by relativistic runaway electron avalanches (gamma-ray glows and flickering flashes) versus lightning, and whether avalanches limit the maximum cloud field near the runaway threshold. An answer is a measured or modeled current ratio constrained by airborne gamma flux and field measurements.
Settled by: Airborne gamma-ray and electric-field measurements over storm lifetimes combined with avalanche transport models.
Kind: well-posed
Answer type: value
References: (empty)
Literature status: open
Status note: Airborne campaigns reported in 2024 (Marisaldi and coauthors, Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07936-6) found gamma emission in tropical storms to be common and highly variable.
Posed since: (empty)