Electrical discharge from a thundercloud top to the lower ionosphere.
In: Nature, Jg. 416 (2002-03-14), Heft 6877, S. 152
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Zugriff:
For over a century, numerous undocumented reports have appeared about unusual large-scale luminous phenomena above thunderclouds and, more than 80 years ago, it was suggested that an electrical discharge could bridge the gap between a thundercloud and the upper atmosphere. Since then, two classes of vertically extensive optical flashes above thunderclouds have been identified-sprites and blue jets. Sprites initiate near the base of the ionosphere, develop very rapidly downwards at speeds which can exceed 107 m s-1 (ref. 15), and assume many different geometrical forms. In contrast, blue jets develop upwards from cloud tops at speeds of the order of 105 m s-1 and are characterized by a blue conical shape. But no experimental data related to sprites or blue jets have been reported which conclusively indicate that they establish a direct path of electrical contact between a thundercloud and the lower ionosphere. Here we report a video recording of a blue jet propagating upwards from a thundercloud to an altitude of about 70 km, taken at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico. Above an altitude of 42 km-normally the upper limit for blue jets and the lower terminal altitude for sprites-the flash exhibited some features normally observed in sprites. As we observed this phenomenon above a relatively small thunderstorm cell, we speculate that it may be common and therefore represent an unaccounted for component of the global electric circuit.
Titel: |
Electrical discharge from a thundercloud top to the lower ionosphere.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Pasko, VP ; Stanley, MA ; Mathews, JD ; Inan, US ; Wood, TG |
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Zeitschrift: | Nature, Jg. 416 (2002-03-14), Heft 6877, S. 152 |
Veröffentlichung: | Basingstoke : Nature Publishing Group ; <i>Original Publication</i>: London, Macmillan Journals ltd., 2002 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 0028-0836 (print) |
DOI: | 10.1038/416152a |
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