Photo Details: Nikon D80 + Nikkor 18-135mm, ISO 100, f/8, 30s, +2.0ev
Posted on 05/28/2009 11:30:09 AM PDT by Squidpup
EIFFEL LIGHTNING BOLT: Believe it or not, bolts of lightning are shooting out of the Eiffel Tower. Photographer Hakim Atek caught it happening on May 25th:
Photo Details: Nikon D80 + Nikkor 18-135mm, ISO 100, f/8, 30s, +2.0ev
"I saw some lightning out the window of my home in Paris," says Atek. "So I set up a tripod and pointed my camera (a Nikon D80) at the Eiffel Tower. I never expected to get such an amazing picture."
But did the Tower really make its own lightning? The surprising answer is "yes."
"The upward branching in this photo shows that the Eiffel Tower actually initiated the discharge," says lightning researcher Richard Blakeslee of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "In other words, instead of starting in the cloud and coming to ground, this flash started when the tower 'launched' a leader that propagated upward toward the cloud (which still served as the source of the electric field needed to get the process going). As the leader ascended, it branched out. Eventually one of the branches reached a region of sufficient charge to 'short out the cloud' and produce the return stroke pictured above."
According to Martin Uman's classic text The Lightning Discharge, upward-initiated discharges are "relatively rare," accounting for less than 1% of all lightning, "and generally occur from mountain tops and tall man-made structures." K. Berger, who studied lightning from a mountaintop location 30+ years ago, was one of the first to describe the phenomenon. Reference: Blizstrom-parameter van aufwarsblizen, Bull. Schweiz. Elektrotech., 69, 353-360, 1978.
Thank you ... great pic too. Fascinating.
LE ZOT!
That’s pretty remarkable. Thanks for the post.
I like these stories that include the camera settings. It gives me a starting point to try something similar.
The upward branching in this photo shows that the Eiffel Tower actually initiated the discharge.”
Count on the French to do things bass-ackward.
Vous êtes si drôle
The Effin’ Lighting Bolt Tower!
Keeping the Empire State Building gorilla free since 1933.
The Frenchies zotted God!
bttt
That’s what they get for letting trolls post to FR from there. Serves ‘em right.
I think the steel structure will safely transport the charges through the “skin effect”.
Nous devons capituler à Dieux de ciel!
Oui, oui, j’essaie
Very cool!
The Eiffel sparkler :-)
It is a great once in a lifetime picture.
Buddy and I had lighting strike the ground less than 10 feet from us. “Unpleasant” is an understatement. I’m fairly certain we broke most duck and cover speed records.
I remember some thirty years ago seeing similar pictures. Some crazy researchers were firing small solid fueled rockets straight up into thunderheads. The rockets were trailing a small wire (like a wire guided missile) which was attached to the launch rail. The result being an immediate return stroke to a targeted location.
Very simple and very easy but kids, DON'T try this at home. I believe they were studying high energy plasma discharges. There was no branching in their photos, the return stroke came straight as an arrow to ground, vaporizing the wire (and parts of the launch rail!) in the process.
Regards,
GtG
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