Skip to main content

Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.

Publication ,  Journal Article
van der Velde, OA; Montanyà, J; López, JA; Cummer, SA
Published in: Nature communications
September 2019

In 2002 it was discovered that a lightning discharge can rise out of the top of tropical thunderstorms and branch out spectacularly to the base of the ionosphere at 90 km altitude. Several dozens of such gigantic jets have been recorded or photographed since, but eluded capture by high-speed video cameras. Here we report on 4 gigantic jets recorded in Colombia at a temporal resolution of 200 µs to 1 ms. During the rising stage, one or more luminous steps are revealed at 32-40 km, before a continuous final jump of negative streamers to the ionosphere, starting in a bidirectional (bipolar) fashion. The subsequent trailing jet extends upward from the jump onset, with a current density well below that of lightning leaders. Magnetic field signals tracking the charge transfer and optical Geostationary Lightning Mapper data are now matched unambiguously to the precisely timed final jump process in a gigantic jet.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Nature communications

DOI

EISSN

2041-1723

ISSN

2041-1723

Publication Date

September 2019

Volume

10

Issue

1

Start / End Page

4350
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
van der Velde, O. A., Montanyà, J., López, J. A., & Cummer, S. A. (2019). Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere. Nature Communications, 10(1), 4350. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12261-y
Velde, Oscar A. van der, Joan Montanyà, Jesús A. López, and Steven A. Cummer. “Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.Nature Communications 10, no. 1 (September 2019): 4350. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12261-y.
van der Velde OA, Montanyà J, López JA, Cummer SA. Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere. Nature communications. 2019 Sep;10(1):4350.
van der Velde, Oscar A., et al. “Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, Sept. 2019, p. 4350. Epmc, doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12261-y.
van der Velde OA, Montanyà J, López JA, Cummer SA. Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere. Nature communications. 2019 Sep;10(1):4350.

Published In

Nature communications

DOI

EISSN

2041-1723

ISSN

2041-1723

Publication Date

September 2019

Volume

10

Issue

1

Start / End Page

4350