gigantic jet lightning

'Gigantic jet' lightning isn't well understood, but could balance out the electrical charge of thunderstorms. A gigantic jet erupted from a nearby cloud. Along with sprites and blue jets, gigantic jets belong to a class of exotic forms of upper-atmosphere lightning phenomenon known as “transient luminous event” (TLE), so called because they lack several characteristics of the more familiar tropospheric lightning. All Rights Reserved. One of the biggest ever observed was documented over China, scientists reported this week. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, orOurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. These Impressive Gigantic Jet Lightning events were captured just south of Puerto Rico on Sept 5th 2020. "This is the first report from mainland China," lead researcher Jing Yang, an atmospheric scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, told OurAmazingPlanet. Along with sprites and blue jets, gigantic jets belong to a class of exotic forms of upper-atmosphere lightning phenomenon known as “transient luminous event” (TLE), so called because they lack several characteristics of the more familiar tropospheric lightning. © Amusing Planet, 2021. Although jets are considered to be a type of upper-atmospheric lightning, it has been found that they are components of tropospheric lightning and a type of cloud-to-air discharge that initiates within a thunderstorm and travel upwards. Gigantic jet lightning, on the other hand, is a form of large scale electrical discharge that occurs high above thunderstorm clouds. Fortunately, digital cameras were already recording. IE 11 is not supported. Pictured above is one such jet caught by accident by a meteor camera in Oklahoma, USA. A similar but less powerful lightning phenomenon are the blue jets. A gigantic jet event observed in middle latitude region in mainland China was first reported. The gigantic jet, at the lower left, … Gigantic Jet lightning and sprite halo recorded over Puerto Rico Tropical waves may not be the biggest storms in the Caribbean, but they produce some of the biggest lightning. Gigantic jets could be important for our ability to predict lightning strikes. They are called gigantic jets and they are extremely powerful. Even rarer are those that take place between clouds and the ionosphere where the electric potential is hundreds of kilovolts higher than earth's surface. Photograph of a gigantic jet, captured in China on August 13, 2016. While they don't occur every time there is lightning, they are substantially larger than their downward striking cousins. In contrast, other types of TLEs are not electrically connected with tropospheric lightning—despite being triggered by it. Photo credit: Phebe Pan. Two years later, researchers described shapes such as "tree jets" and "carrot jets" that they spotted during a 2002 thunderstorm over the South China Sea near the Philippines. Photograph of a gigantic jet, captured in China on August 13, 2016. Advertisement 'Gigantic jet' lightning, A rare glimpse of a "gigantic jet" — a huge and mysterious burst of lightning that connects a thunderstorm with the upper atmosphere — was made over China in 2010 and was recently described by scientists. But gigantic jets were not observed until 2001. Rare double Gigantic Jet lightning captured over Puerto Rico. The most recent sighting was in August, 2016. The gigantic jet peaked at about 55 miles (89 kilometers) above the ground, far above the cloudtops that were measured with Doppler radar at an altitude of 11 miles (17 km). It wasn't until the last century that electrical activity above thunderclouds was scientifically proven, although rumors based on undocumented observations circulated long before that time. While flying from Munich to Singapore earlier this month, an industrious passenger took images of a passing lightning storm and caught something unexpected: gigantic jet lightning. The sprite-Halo event could be a negative polarity sprite event. Analysis of a Gigantic Jet in Southern China: Morphology, Meteorology, Storm Evolution, Lightning, and Narrow Bipolar Events. Blue jets are typically shaped in a narrow cone, and as implied by their name, are blue in color. Frankie. While a typical lightning strike may travel less than ten kilometers, gigantic jets have been observed to shoot vertically up for more than 70 km. Yes, but can your lightning bolt do this? Elizabeth Howell, OurAmazingPlanet Contributor, Infographic: Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom, Electric Earth: Stunning Images of Lightning, Strange & Shining: Gallery of Mysterious Night Lights. Gigantic Jet Lightning is very similar, but is believed to occur between the positively charged part of the cloud and atmospheric layers above the cloud. Radar and lightning analyses of gigantic jet-producing storms Tiffany C. Meyer,1,2 Timothy J. Lang,1,3 Steven A. Rutledge,1 Walter A. Lyons,4 Steven A. Cummer,5 Gaopeng Lu,5 and Daniel T. Lindsey6 Received 16 October 2012; revised 11 February 2013; accepted 25 February 2013. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Unlike tropospheric lightning, sprites are cold plasma, similar to fluorescent tube discharge. A rare glimpse of a "gigantic jet" — a huge and mysterious burst of lightning that connects a thunderstorm with the upper atmosphere — was made over China in … Photo credit: Thijs Bors, Sprite lightning in Vivaro, Italy. Gigantic jets are a newly discovered type of lightning discharge between some thunderstorms and the Earth's ionosphere high above them. Only a few dozen observation has been made since then. Photo credit: Phebe Pan. On Sept. 5th, Frankie Lucena pointed his video camera at a tropical wave passing just south of Puerto Rico, and this is what he saw. Blue jets: project directly from the top of the thunderstorm in a narrow cone jet up to approximately 50 km altitude. Although their physics is not fully understood, researchers believe that gigantic jets could be a “missing link” in the Earth’s “global electric circuit” that helps maintain the potential difference of about 300,000 volts between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. Neither flash had developed channels to ground, confirming that the major charge transfer during gigantic jets occurred between the cloud and ionosphere. Their oversized cousins, Gigantic Jets, are far more rare. This image might be the best image ever captured of this unusual phenomenon. While watching and photographing this year's Perseid Meteor Shower, near the peak of Shikengkong mountain in China, a gigantic jet erupted from a nearby cloud. Our Amazing Planet / February 26, 2013 A 'gigantic jet' captured above a … Possibly the sharpest image of a blue jet available so far. These electrical discharges occur from the top of cumulonimbus clouds above a thunderstorm to the lowest levels of the ionosphere, just like gigantic jets. The gigantic jet took place in eastern China on Aug. 12, 2010 — the farthest a ground-based one has ever been observed from the equator, according to the research team. Only dozens have been photographed. These electrical discharges can take several forms, such as sprites (orange-red flashes) and blue jets, which appear as blue cones. However, they are short and penetrate only up to about 40-50 km above the earth. A rare glimpse of a "gigantic jet" — a huge and mysterious burst of lightning that connects a thunderstorm with the upper atmosphere — was made over China in … Nevertheless, those ideas were quickly shot down when scientists were able to determine that the lightning was a rare form of electrical discharge known as a “Gigantic Jet”. Although the gigantic jet appears connected to the airplane's wing, it likely started in a more distant thundercloud, and can be seen extending upwards … Holmes had a close encounter with a Gigantic Jet. One of the biggest ever observed was documented over China, scientists reported this week. The most common kind of lightning observed from earth discharges from cloud to cloud or from clouds toward the ground. The results show that the gigantic jet has tree-like shape, and the gigantic jet producing storm center located at about 35.6°N, 119.8°E. On September 5, 2020, Frankie Lucena pointed his video camera at a tropical wave passing just south of Puerto Rico, and he recorded some very impressive and huge Gigantic Jet lightning events and clusters of sprites. "It's not as clear as this one if it is a gigantic jet or not," she said. The other components of Earth's global electric circuit include thunderstorms, the conducting ionosphere, the downward fair-weather currents and the conducting Earth. The jet was captured on a single 3.2-second exposure above Bhadrak, India. Since sprites were discovered in the late 1980s, researchers have photographed thousands of the strange upward-reaching lightning bolts. The whole thing lasted less than a second. But they produce some of the biggest lightning… Gigantic Jet over Puerto Rico in September 2020. Yang added that her team had possibly seen another gigantic jet in the same area during a different thunderstorm, but said they needed to recheck the data to confirm. A gigantic jet lightning near Hawaii on July 24 2017. Picture via Frankie Lucena video. Since then, more GJs have been recorded in North America [van der Velde et al., 2007a, 2007b]. The two main types of jets are blue jets and gigantic jets. While scientists are still trying to understand how these gigantic jets work, they believe the jets balance out the electrical charge during thunderstorms by discharging the ionosphere — a part of the upper atmosphere filled with charged particles. We need to check the data. A spectacular outburst of jet lightning, also known as "gigantic jets," was captured by the Gemini Observatory’s cloud camera on Mauna Kea in Hawaii on July 24. A rare glimpse of a "gigantic jet" — a huge and mysterious burst of lightning that connects a thunderstorm with the upper atmosphere — was made over China in … For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. NOAA GOES East (GOES-16) satellite's Geostationary Lightning Mapper has captured the first images from space of 'gigantic jet' lightning - electrical discharges from a thunderstorm that come out the TOP of the storm and reach as high as the ionosphere (that's 50 miles up) Photo credit: Marko Korosec, Sources: Physics World / Space Weather / Scientific American / Wikipedia / APOD. The whole thing was over in a flash, lasting less than a second. But they produce some of the biggest lightning… On September 5, 2020, Frankie Lucena pointed his video camera at a tropical wave passing just south of Puerto Rico, and he recorded some very impressive and huge Gigantic Jet lightning events and clusters of sprites. Jing Yang ... and Jiahe County, Hunan province, respectively, fortuitously captured a gigantic jet (GJ) event simultaneously, and the GJ exact location could be triangulated. Sometimes called “Earth’s tallest lightning,” because they reach all the way to the ionosphere ~50 miles high, the towering forms were discovered near Taiwan and Puerto Rico in 2001-2002. The more elusive forms, called sprites, take place high above thunderstorm clouds and are visible as streaks of red. Gigantic jets are a rare form of lightning recognized formally only a few years ago. {{posts[0].commentsNum}} {{messages_comments}}, {{posts[1].commentsNum}} {{messages_comments}}, {{posts[2].commentsNum}} {{messages_comments}}, {{posts[3].commentsNum}} {{messages_comments}}, Bolton Strid: A Stream That Swallows People, Shrek, The Sheep Who Escaped Shearing for 6 Years, How Japanese Bamboo Helped Edison Make The Light Bulb, Anderson Shelters: The Backyard Bunkers That Saved Britons From Luftwaffe Bombings. Researchers got a good look at the storm using a variety of tools, including Doppler radar data and weather pictures in the infrared band of radiation. This was nearly double the 26-mile (42 km) limit for jets that was previously observed. It wasn’t until the end of the last century that electrical activity above thunderclouds was scientifically proven, although rumors based on undocumented observations persisted for a long time. Get a round-up of all our stories published during the past week delivered to your email every Saturday. Gigantic Jet Lightning in the Caribbean This gigantic jet was captured on the night of Sept 16th 2019. The jet was captured on a single 3.2-second exposure above Bhadrak, India. 'Gigantic jet' lightning isn't well understood, but could balance out the electrical charge of thunderstorms. Two low‐light cameras near Marfa, Texas, recorded the first gigantic jet over North America on 13 May 2005. the gigantic jet‐producing flash began as ordinary intracloud lightning with upper level channels attempting to exit the cloud, and then produced the upward gigantic jet. The first positive jet was observed just west of the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea … Based on their shape and visual appearance, we distinguish three types of sprites: jellyfish, column and carrot sprites. Blue starters are considered to be a weaker form of blue jets. This image might be the best image ever captured of this unusual phenomenon. Via Frankie Lucena / SpaceWeather. Duke Researchers capture video of "gigantic jet" lightning 200 miles away off the coast of North Carolina. The results were recently published in the Chinese Science Bulletin. While starring at the sky, the Gemini Cloudcam at the Mauna Kea Observatory captured something unexpected in Hawaii on the night of July 24, 2017. Sprites were discovered only in 1989, and since then have been photographed by the thousands. To their surprise and good fortune, on 21 July, a gigantic jet struck within just a few kilometres of the researchers’ recording station near Duke University. Previous jets were mainly seen in tropical or subtropical regions, but this one took place around 35 degrees latitude, about the same as the southern part of Tennessee in the United States. Since then, only dozens of Gigantic Jets have been photographed. The gigantic jet appears to start somewhere in a nearby thundercloud and extend upwards towards Earth's ionosphere. The thinness of the upper atmosphere also allows gigantic jets to travel much faster than cloud-to-ground lightning. A rare glimpse of a "gigantic jet" — a huge and mysterious burst of lightning that connects a thunderstorm with the upper atmosphere — was made over China in 2010 and was recently described by scientists. A streak of blue jet lightning captured by pilot and photographer Thijs Bors in the Northern Territory, Australia, during a thunderstorm. 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All our stories published during the past week delivered to your email every Saturday lightning captured over Puerto Rico thousands... Major charge transfer during gigantic jets of Earth 's ionosphere of thunderstorms downward fair-weather currents and the conducting.... South of Puerto Rico the whole thing was over in a flash, lasting less a. From Earth discharges from cloud to cloud or from clouds toward the ground connected with tropospheric being... Coast of North Carolina jet '' lightning 200 miles away off the coast of North Carolina with gigantic. They are extremely powerful n't occur every time there is lightning, they extremely. And photographer Thijs Bors in the Northern Territory, Australia, during a thunderstorm balance out the electrical of! Gigantic jets occurred between the cloud and ionosphere few years ago near Hawaii July! Get a round-up of all our stories published during the past week to! The sharpest image of a gigantic jet sprite lightning in Vivaro, Italy which! 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