Abstract
Blue jets are lightning-like, atmospheric electric discharges of several
hundred millisecond duration that fan into cones as they propagate from
the top of thunderclouds into the stratosphere1.
They are thought to initiate in an electric breakdown between the
positively charged upper region of a cloud and a layer of negative
charge at the cloud boundary and in the air above. The breakdown forms a
leader that transitions into streamers2 when propagating upwards3. However, the properties of the leader, and the altitude to which it extends above the clouds, are not well characterized4. Blue millisecond flashes in cloud tops5,6 have previously been associated with narrow bipolar events7,8,
which are 10- to 30-microsecond pulses in wideband electric field
records, accompanied by bursts of intense radiation at 3 to 300
megahertz from discharges with short (inferred) channel lengths (less
than one kilometre)9,10,11.
Here we report spectral measurements from the International Space
Station, which offers an unimpeded view of thunderclouds, with
10-microsecond temporal resolution. We observe five intense,
approximately 10-microsecond blue flashes from a thunderstorm cell. One
flash initiates a pulsating blue jet to the stratopause (the interface
between the stratosphere and the ionosphere). The observed flashes were
accompanied by ‘elves’12
in the ionosphere. Emissions from lightning leaders in the red spectral
band are faint and localized, suggesting that the flashes and the jet
are streamer ionization waves, and that the leader elements at their
origin are short and localized. We propose that the microsecond flashes
are the optical equivalent of negative narrow bipolar events observed in
radio waves. These are known to initiate lightning within the cloud and
to the ground, and blue lightning into the stratosphere, as reported
here.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Nature |
Volume | 589 |
Issue number | 7842 |
Pages (from-to) | 371-375 |
ISSN | 0028-0836 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Please note author correction:Neubert, T., Chanrion, O., Heumesser, M. et al. Author Correction: Observation of the onset of a blue jet into the stratosphere. Nature (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03348-y