YerPhI Master and Ph.D. students co-authored paper “Catalog of 2017 Thunderstorm Ground Enhancement (TGE) events observed on Aragats”; from left to right: B.Sargsyan, H.Mkrtchyan, A.Arestakesyan, G.Karapetyan

The paper “Catalog of 2017 Thunderstorm Ground Enhancement (TGE) events observed on Aragats” (SREP-18-27065-T) has been scheduled for online publication in Scientific Reports on the 18th of April 2019. On publication, the paper will be freely available online at www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-42786-7 The natural electron accelerator in the clouds above Aragats high-altitude research station in Armenia operated continuously in 2017, providing more than 100 Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements (TGEs), bursts of radiation, which to some extent mimic cosmic rays. Thorough analysis of the extensive data collected in 2017 resulted in a detailed description of the long-lasting TGEs. A catalog of TGE events was produced, which described two classes of events according to the presence or absence of the high-energy radiation particles. The catalog summarizes several key parameters of TGEs and observations of atmospheric discharges, together with related meteorological data. The statistical analysis of the data recorded in the tables reveals the months when TGEs are more likely, the time of day when TGEs most frequently occur, the mean distance between a lightning flash that terminates a TGE, and many other interesting relations. The sharp rate of decline of highenergy particles after a lightning flash is also discussed. Applying the Advanced Data ExtractionInfrastructure (ADEI) to multivariate visualization and statistical analysis greatly simplified the analytical work on a very sophisticated problem. This allowed many 2 hypotheses about the processes involved in TGEs to be analyzed and resulted in the validation of a definite conclusion. The ADEI platform facilitates merging of data from disparate sources which is recorded at different times. The paper is co-authored by CRD master degree and PhD students. During the second semester of CRD master courses, Prof. Chilingarian instructs students about the preparation of scientific papers and submitting them for publication in scientific journals. The scholarly work usually culminates in the research paper being published in the proceedings of the annual conference on Thunderstorms and Elementary Particle Acceleration, and sometimes also in high-ranking scientific journals. Publication of student research provides additional enthusiasm and motivation for them to continue their scientific work, and enhance their skills. Current master degree students are preparing two new papers: Natural Gamma Radiation (NRL), and Winter Gamma Ray Flux Enhancements, which they also plan to submit to the top scientific journals.