Mysterious and gigantic jets of lightning that shoot up to near the edge of space have now been observed in unprecedented detail, revealing just how much charge they pack and how they form.
More than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth’s surface, extreme ultraviolet radiation from the sun reacts with air molecules to produce highly charged particles, generating an energetic region known as the ionosphere.
In 2001, scientists discovered gigantic jets of lightning arcing up from clouds in the lowest portion of the atmosphere, the troposphere, to the ionosphere. These rarities apparently are caused by the profound difference in electric charge between the ionosphere and the rest of the atmosphere, but much else about them remained unclear.
To learn more about these enigmas, scientists analyzed two such jets that occurred near lightning- detection systems capable of monitoring very high frequency (VHF) radio emissions. The detection systems allowed scientists to follow how this lightning developed in 3-D. They also remotely measured how much charge these jets packed by analyzing their magnetic fields.
The first jet, which occurred off the coast of Florida, leapt up 50 miles (80 km), while the second jet, observed in Oklahoma, soared 56 miles (90 km).
Both jets originated from otherwise normal lightning between clouds, the most common form of lightning. As the positively charged upper layers of these clouds dissipated, the negative lightning channel broke through, zipping out of the top of the cloud to the ionosphere.
The researchers suggest that strong circulation in the core region of a storm might prevent clouds from developing continuous positively charged upper layers, enabling the formation of these gigantic jets. Lightning in the clouds preceding these jets might also play a role in dissipating these upper positive layers.
Future research could involve “ground-based electric field measurements related to gigantic jets, which might be extremely interesting”. (OAP)
Lightning development associated with two negative gigantic jets (Geophysical Research Letters)
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Comments
I think it may have something to do with all the strange weather.I believe the sun and the Photon Belt play a great part in all of this. Science admits its the sun but they fail to recognize what is causing the sun to be so crazy. They admit the Photon belt is there, they call it the Photonics cloud, but they refuse to link it to all the strange weather that is going on all around the world. So its our job to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I have been posting blogs about all the strange weather world wide but people are not paying to much attention to it. Sad but true. I guess they are waiting until it hits them personally or when really big things happen, which is coming soon. Its called the"Signs of the Times" There are other strange things going on as well, such as the booms and flashes of light, which I believe is caused by all the meteorites that are coming in also caused by the Photon Belt. Adonai