Photo credit: Hung-Hsi Chang | NASA
Scientists have revealed a detailed 3D study of a mysterious upward lightning burst that rose 50-miles into space above an Oklahoma thunderstorm. This is known as an atmospheric phenomenon called ‘gigantic jets’, but the Oklahoma discharge was the most powerful gigantic jet observed yet, carrying 100-times as much electrical charge as a typical thunderstorm lightning bolt.
It moved an approximate 300 coulombs of electrical charge into the ionosphere, or the lower edge of space, from the thunderstorm. Normal lightning bolts carry less than 5 coulombs between the cloud and ground or within clouds. This upward discharge included relatively cool (around 400° F) streamers of plasma, as well as structures called leaders that are very hot – more than 8,000°F. The mystery surrounding this lightning burst is right up there with bizarre phenomena like ball lightning.
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The VHF and optical signals definitively confirmed what researchers had suspected but not yet proven: that the VHF radio from lightning is emitted by small structures called streamers that are at the very tip of the developing lightning, while the strongest electric current flows significantly behind this tip in an electrically conducting channel called a leader,” said Steve Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke.
