Still Waters Posted August 9, 2022 #1 Share Posted August 9, 2022 One of the most powerful and fascinating forces of nature is born of storms: great cracks of light that part the sky, flicking vast amounts of electricity into the surrounding atmosphere, cracking into the ground whenever it reaches it. Or that's how we typically think of lightning. But the phenomenon has another manifestation, only relatively recently revealed: sometimes, it erupts upwards from the clouds, lashing into the stratosphere in a tremendous blue 'jet' of electricity. Little is known about this phenomenon; it's unpredictable and occurs beyond the sight of most people, above a layer of storm clouds. But, thanks to a citizen scientist, one such giant jet was recorded above the clouds during a storm in Oklahoma in 2018 – and, with data collected by other instruments, scientists have been able to study it in detail in three dimensions. https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-upside-down-lightning-could-be-even-weirder-than-we-thought The research has been published in Science Advances. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl8731 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now