Atmospheric Electrical Activity in central Argentina and its relationship with phenomena observed at the Auger Observatory

NICORA, M. GABRIELA; BAISSAC, DAIANA M.; VILLAGRÁN, CONSTANZA I.; SOLARI, FLORENCIA I.; BARLE, FLORENCIA M.; PINI, LUCÍA ; BERTONE, FLORENCIA

Anacapri

Simposio; AtmoHEAD 2022; 2022

Abstract. Thunderstorms in Argentina have great spatial variability explained by variousmechanisms on different spatio-temporal scales, associated with the meridional extension andorography of the region. The Pierre Auger Observatory is located in Mendoza Province incentral-western Argentina where the unique meteorological and geographical conditions resultin a high spacial density of convective storms. Atmospheric electrical activity (AEA)produces Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) of which ELVES are the most prominentmembers of the extraordinary family that includes halos, jetstorms, and sprites. NorthernArgentina and Southern Brazil are prolific producers of TLEs, which can be observed at thePierre Auger Observatory by the Fluorescence Detector (FD) 24 UV telescope. In this work,we present the characterization of the AEA in the study region and the most importantmeteorological characteristics to aid in understanding which of the dynamical or microphysicalprocesses could act in the formation of TLEs.