Explaining Upwards Lightning

No one is surprised when lightning comes down form the sky, especially during one of those intense summer thunderstorms. But witnessing a bolt of light and electricity going upwards, until it almost reaches the upper limit of the atmosphere, is completely another story. One such formation was recently observed by experts at the Duke University, in a storm some 200 miles away from their observation post, LiveScience reports.

This type of formations, only one of several phenomena that were recently discovered to take place above storm clouds, was only discovered in 2001. Since then, it has fascinated planetary scientists and meteorologists alike with its amazing power and properties. Known in the scientific community as gigantic jets, only around ten such formations have thus far been directly observed, Steven Cummer, one of the team members, says. The only difference between them and regular lightning flashes is that the former go upwards, while the latter, naturally, downwards.

“Gigantic jets are literally lightning that comes out of the thunderclouds, but instead of going down, like most lightning strokes do, these apparently find their way out the tops of thunderclouds, and then keep going and keep going and keep going until they run into something that stops them,” Cummer explains. They only stop in the ionosphere, the outer layer of our planet's atmosphere, which contains large amounts of electrically charged atoms (ions).

It would also appear that the role of these discharges is to transfer energy from the clouds to the ionosphere, in a way similar to usual lightning, which transfers electricity to the ground. “We knew that there was a slim, slim chance that we would see something interesting, like a gigantic jet, but for sure we got lucky to be able to see that. So we were pretty thrilled,” the expert says of the July 21st, 2008, observation session of Tropical Storm Cristobal, which revealed the gigantic jet.