Posted on 01/23/2021 6:59:42 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
OMG! Have you ever seen something like this? Have you ever seen a bright-blue lightning bolt shooting upward from thunderclouds?
Such Blue jets are difficult to spot from the ground, since the electrical discharges erupt from the tops of thunderclouds. But what about from space?
In a new scientific release, scientists discuss such a transient luminous event that occurred on February 26, 2019 near Nauru, a small island in the central Pacific Ocean. And the images are bombastic:
The above artist impression features a lightning in clouds seen from space followed by a blue flash that lasts 10 micro seconds, a blue jet lasting 400 milliseconds and an elve generated by the blue flash that lasts for 30 microseconds. And all of that was captured from the ISS (International Space Station). Pretty impressive, no?
But how much do we really know about this weather phenomenon? As it turns out, there are a lot of things left to discover. Things like blue jets, elves and red sprites. Bizarre-sounding things. Things that are very difficult to observe from the surface of the Earth.
And things like the European Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) observatory, a collection of optical cameras, photometers and an X- and gamma-ray detector) on the International Space Station is helping scientists find answers, looking down on Earth’s weather from the ISS 400 km above.
ASIM is designed to look for electrical discharges originating in stormy weather conditions that extend above thunderstorms into the upper atmosphere.
What is a blue jet? A blue jet is a form of lightning that shoots upwards from thunderstorm clouds. They can reach as far 50 km into the stratosphere and last less than a second.
Here some of the latest amazing sightings around the world (Brazil, Australia, Indonesia).
Those are very cool! I’ve seen many space based photos, but those are awesome!
Sorry. It’s the chili.
Sprites
Yes, it’s pretty amazing. Lighting is going on in our atmosphere all the time, most of which we never see.
I’m a general aviation pilot, and I accidentally caught a photo of one on my cell phone while taking a picture of a buildup over Jasper, TX.
The article is not very clear on what is the elve. Is it the big ‘hole’ in the atmosphere???
When flying in South Texas I was miles away from a Thunder Storm at a very safe distance. Weather was VFR but I was on a IFR flight plan and did not worry. Tops on those storms were 60k. Bolts of lighting from mid cumulus cloud were miles. ATC did their their job. It was just a normal flight with a good visual show.
Sprites....
There’s a good chance that when I die, it will be from being struck by lightning. Haha, when a storm rolls in, I stop whatever I am doing and have to go out and watch. Love to watch the clouds light up from within and I have seen, on a few occasions, lightning shooting up out of the top of distant evening thunderstorms.
Oopsie. It's clickbait.
Areas with very Sandy soil cause very strange lighting strikes. The discharge begins but then realizes a better ground path over to the right or left and zig-zag lightning starts. Was that part of Texas very sandy?
Circa 2013 ATC also put me in the shit on a flight from Monroe Louisiana to Lake Front in New Orleans. I had a full IFR panel but not radar. They put me into a damn thunderstorm. They gave me a heading of which I declined as lightning bolts were all around me.
I then demanded a vector to the ILS which was given. I was also in the same thunderstorm at the time. Vertical control sucked. Oddly once below 200 feet and visual it was very normal. We just landed. The prior 5000 feet were not fun.
The #1 modern society magnet for lightning strikes are those big steel roll-away 48ft dumpsters. Really! Do not go near one if you are experiencing foul weather. The trash can wait.
ADF needle swing usually points them out. Poor man’s radar.
That is our space defense force fighting the aliens.
Remember United Airlines Gate C17 at O’Hare ?
("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
At the moment, it might be an improvement.
I picked that tagline when I joined FR in June 2005 and have stuck with it. I'm not only a Monty Python fan, but I really find that marvelous exchange between Dennis and King Arthur perfectly encapsulates the misguidedness of both autocratic and radical socialist (anarcho-syndicalist, to be precise) forms of government.
When Obama was elected in 2008 it would have been an improvement then as well as now.
Glad you like it.
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