Talk 2: The astroparticle-atmospheric nexus: Broadband thunderstorm electrodynamics, enhanced space weather forecasting, and distributed HTC infrastructure for GRAPES-3

by Dr B Hari Haran (TIFR)

Wednesday 23 Sept 2026, 11:00 → 13:30 Asia/Kolkata

AG 66 (TIFR, Mumbai)

A multi-disciplinary research vision is proposed to push the boundaries of high-energy atmospheric physics and solar-terrestrial interactions using the GRAPES-3 experiment, and large-scale scientific computing. A broadband capability for probing thunderstorm electrodynamics will be established by synthesizing observations of GeV-scale muon acceleration with Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanches and low-energy Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements, which preliminary 2026 data indicate event record at three times the rate of thunderstorm-induced muon events. Simultaneously, space weather prediction and solar plasma dynamics will be advanced by correlating GRAPES-3 cosmic-ray intensity variations with interplanetary scintillation observations. To realize these physical objectives across the Nilgiris (≈1000 km^2), the instrumentation array will be expanded through a regional electric field mill (EFM) network, a radio antenna array to extend cosmic-ray sensitivity past the "knee" (>10^15 eV), and a dedicated 3-axis magnetic field sensor at Gauribidanur. To execute these high-volume multi-messenger analysis workloads and other disciplines, a scalable, distributed high-throughput computing (HTC) facility modeled on the Open Science Grid and Center for High Throughput Computing at UW-Madison will be constructed.