Research Fellow

Hripsime Mkrtchyan recently joined the University of Reading as a Marie Curie Research fellow at the Department of Meteorology. Prior to this, she served as a Fullbright postdoctoral fellow at the Civil and Environmental Engineering department of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where her research focused on radiation coming from thunderclouds and its electrical structure based on remote sensing.  

Just prior to her engagement with Reading, Hripsime was holding an assistant professor position at American University of Armenia, where she taught “Introduction to Environmental sciences”, “Environmental projects” and “Environmental monitoring” courses.  

Research Interests: 

• Atmospheric electricity 
• Lightning Climatology 
• High energy phenomena in Atmosphere 
• Balloon measurements of meteorological parameters 

• Aerosol charging 
• Remote Sensing 

Publications:  

1. Williams E., Mkrtchyan H., et al. RADAR Diagnosis of the Thundercloud Ground Enhancements. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres. JGR, 2022. SS: This publication presents RADAR diagnosis of thunderstorms over the western-north part of Armenia along with near-surface measurements for the first time.
2. Mkrtchyan H. et al. Atmospheric electric field variations during fair weather and thunderstorms at different altitudes. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. Volume 211, 2020. SS: This publication discusses thunderstorm activity over the western-north part of Armenia based on electric field records. It also presents fair-weather electric field disturbances at different location in Armenia which has been investigated first time.
3. Fdez-Arroyabe P. et al (incl. Mkrtchyan H.) Glossary on atmospheric electric field and its biological effects. Int J Biometeorol 65, 5–29, 2021. SS: The paper collects and presents glossary of terms which describe atmosphere related phenomena in one place.
4. Chilingarian A., Hovsepyan G., Karapetyan T., Karapetyan G., Kozliner L., Mkrtchyan H., et al. Structure of thunderstorm ground enhancements. Phys. Rev. D 101, 122004, 22 June 2020. SS: This paper discusses thunderstorms accompanied by long lasting TGEs and reveal the presence of gamma rays/electrons with energies above 3 MeV in the energy spectra of detected particles.
5. Nicoll K., et al. (incl. Mkrtchyan H.) A global atmospheric electricity monitoring network for climate and geophysical research. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics Volume 184, March 2019, Pages 18-29, 2019. SS: The publication presents fair weather electric field measurements over 17 stations around the world.
6. Chilingarian A., Mkrtchyan H. et al. Catalog of 2017 Thunderstorm Ground Enhancement (TGE) events observed on Aragats. Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Article number: 6253, 2019. SS: This paper presents catalog of TGEs registered in 2017. It discusses different characteristics of cases.
7. Mkrtchyan H., Study of Atmospheric Discharges by Near Surface Electric Field Measurements. The Open Atmospheric Science Journal,Vol. 12, Pages 21-32, 2018. SS: The mono article discusses electrical discharges and disturbances of electric field during discharges. Its shows that recovery curve after lightning are not only exponential but also has power and linear shape.
8. Yaniv R., Yair Y., Price C., Mkrtchyan H., Lynn B., Reymers A., Ground-based measurements of the vertical E-field in mountainous regions and the “Austausch” effect. Atmospheric Research, Vol. 189, Pages 127-133, 2017. SS: This publication presents fair weather electric field diurnal variations over mountain region in Israel and in Armenia. It explains influence of local effects on near surface electric field.
9. Chilingarian A., Mkrtchyan H., Lower positive charge region (LPCR) and its influence on initiation of Thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs) and cloud-to-ground (CG-) and intracloud (IC-) lightning occurrences. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 409 012219, 2013. SS: The publication discusses cloud tripole structure and distribution of lightning types during TGEs for the first time.
10. Chilingarian A., Mkrtchyan H. Role of the Lower Positive Charge Region (LPCR) in the initiation of the Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements (TGEs). Physical Review D86, 072003, 2012. SS: The paper classifies thunderstorms over mt. Aragats based on electric field patterns and reveals the importance of LPCR for TGEs origination for the first time. 

(non-peer reviewed) 

1. Zeltner R., Mkrtchyan H. et al The Young Minds Leadership Meeting 2021 a virtual experience. Europhysics News Vol 52, N. 4, (2021)
2. Martin C. et al. (incl. Mkrtchyan H.) Strengthening the sense of belonging in a time of distancing. Europhysics News Vol 52, N. 1, Page 10 (2021)
3. Mattia Ostinato et al. (incl. Mkrtchyan H.) Social Engagement, Connections and Growth: How Young Minds shapes the physicists of the future. Europhysics News Vol 51, N. 5, Page 16 (2020)
4. Mkrtchyan H. and Davit Aslanyan, How Yerevan Young Minds Faces Challenges in 2020, EPS News (2020) 

Last update: 19th February 2024