New Studies Uncover Mysterious Processes That Generate Volcanic Lightning

AGU Blogosphere ^ | 4/12/2016 | Lauren Lipuma

[JimSEA]

Hot ash, gas and lava spewed into the atmosphere by volcanoes can block out the sun, down planes and bury entire towns. As if that weren’t ferocious enough, the most violent volcanic eruptions also generate lightning.

Volcanic eruptions, like this one at Sakurajima volcano in Japan, produce beautiful displays of lightning. Two new studies have shed some light on the processes that lead to this phenomenon. Credit: Corrado Cimarelli. Volcanic eruptions, like this one at Sakurajima volcproduce beautiful displays of lightning. Two new studies have shed some light on the processes that lead to this phenomenon. Credit: Corrado Cimarelli. Humans have observed volcanic lightning for thousands of years – Pliny the Younger even mentioned it when he described the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD. But scientists have had trouble studying this phenomenon because the flashes last only for milliseconds and thick clouds of ash can hide it from view.

Now, two new studies published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, are unraveling some of the mysteries of this violent process, and revealing the similarities – and differences – between volcanic lightning and the kind of lightning produced by thunderclouds.

The new studies show that both the eruption of the volcano and the presence of ice particles in the eruption’s plume play a role in generating volcanic lightning.

Understanding how this process works could enable scientists to use volcanic lightning to monitor and track the progress of powerful eruptions in real time, according to the studies’ authors. This method could help monitoring agencies detect eruptions at remote volcanoes more quickly than traditional methods, and help forecasters predict how the ejected ash and gas will travel through the atmosphere, they said.

[JimSEA]

Footage of volcanic lightning at Sakurajima taken by Cimarelli’s research team.Also another article at Geology.com

[Mr. K]

duh... static electricity caused by friction

The same reason you get regular lightning when it rains

[DannyTN]

I think its electrical charges.

[onedoug]

Ionization

[T-Bone Texan]

"...But scientists have had trouble studying this phenomenon because the flashes last only for milliseconds (Hmmm, like regular lightning does?) and thick clouds of ash can hide it from view. (Hmm, like clouds do?)

Life is so very difficult, even for scientists.

[BitWielder1]

Until they can reproduce it in the laboratory it means nothing :)

[WakeUpAndVote]

I think its electrical charges.

________________________

I think it my chili and beans.

[JimSEA]

Just like regular lightning? Just like regular clouds?

I'd have thought that the Trump militia would have picked one of these images up: There will be consequences for not voting Trump!!

[Billthedrill]

Actual footage of a Zot.

[Organic Panic]

Volcanoes have nothing compared to the massive destruction of carbon dioxide.

[kiryandil]

Everyone knows that Hephaestus purloined some of Zeus’ bolts...