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When it comes to electrical storms, it’s well known that certain lightning strikes are capable of travelling upwards from the ground. However, the rarity associated with physically recording these ‘gigantic jet’ events makes them notoriously difficult to document, which is why a recent capture has become big news in scientific circles.
A meteorological rarity... captured. Image: Steven Cummer/Duke University.
The photographed electrical eruption, a lucky one-second shot revealed in a new meteorological study by Duke University in North Carolina, looks much like a giant hand reaching upwards from the storm and is believed to have travelled a distance of 40 miles towards the planet’s ionosphere during its brief flash of existence.
“Despite poor viewing conditions as a result of a full moon and a hazy atmosphere, we were able to clearly capture the gigantic jet,” explained study leader and electrical engineer Steve Cummer.
Gigantic jets are renowned for being extremely hard to catch on film due to the speed at which they occur, normally requiring any on-looking camera equipment to be fortuitously fixed upon their exact point of transfer.
Looking to build upon the recent capture and Duke’s surrounding study into the meteorological phenomenon, Cummer said he plans to employ low-light, high-speed cameras in an effort to secure full colour images that may deliver more in-depth information regarding chemical processes and associated temperatures.
Full details surrounding the lucky snapshot and its accompanying effects, which include related magnetic field measurements, were published online on August 23 in the journal Nature Geoscience.
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