* Remember, lightning is the number one killer of people in storms. Use commonsense and don't take unnecessary risks - your best photograph might be your last....
Trace and Ryan here in Australia sent me this great lightning strike - before playing it, turn the volume up on your computer LOUD - it will be worth it! If it's slow to load up, be patient and let the page set . The video shows that some places just aren't as safe as you may think!
YouTube lightning videos to view!
A particular favorite that I viewed...been there, done that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhXtCL8cy1o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKbpXKd495E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huFRiUKbHY4&feature=related
From Robert A Prentice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr54GZpvf68&feature=related
Stormguy.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tJIqo9OkgE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iJtysax3nE&NR=1
Awesome timelapse footage of an incoming storm front with multiple lightning strikes. Kindly donated with permission by Brendan Heffernan in New South Wales.
(video is coming back!)
CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING
The most common forms that you see from storms. They are either quick or can pulse as the connection within the lightning shaft takes place. Whilst it's not quite understood how lightning actually occurs here's the bare basics of the process. That the cumulonimbus cloud becomes supercharged by positive and negative particles, add to that instability, strong updraughts, water droplets colliding with each other throughout the process, the air becomes unstable and step leaders are sent out to search for an earth. Step leaders are usually not visible to the naked eye because the whole process takes a fraction of a second - but the end result is the main connection from one of these leaders to a point on the ground and that's when you see the strike or the brightly illuminated channel.
You can see in this photo above I took of lightning that on the left hand side there are faint 'leader' strokes visible. The two far right leaders found a compatible earth grounding source and the connection was complete.
At night you can see the step leaders by way of 'branching; - the tree-like leaders that spread out just before you see the main flash stroke. Here's some shots that I took.
Ground to cloud lightning
This type of lightning is the same but in reverse! It's also known as 'reverse lightning' because the step leader actually initiates from an object on the ground and searches upward to the storm for a connection.
(Nah it's not my photo but it was too good to waste - it's credited to http://smh.com.au/ and shows what happens when lightning strikes 20 feet away. Check the step leader in the trees!)
Below are three of the most outstanding lightning photos I have ever seen - and I've seen plenty! Credit to Christophe Suarez who took these in Geneva, Switzerland of all places! The vantage point must be high up on a mountain lookout or in an aircraft, either way the captures are just superb. Visit Christophe's website at http://www.chasseurs-orages.com/photos-orages-suarez.htm and be truly blown away!
I don't have any personal shots of this but here's one I will credit to Charles Allison from Oklahoma who has a spectacular website at http://oklahomalightning.com/ This photo shows beautifully the step leaders searching upward from antenna towers and making the connection.
Rocket lightning
Very rare but was captured here by Aurelio A. Heckert c/o http://wikipedia.com/ The photos shows a mass of channels illuminated and is just superb!
A shot that I captured of a pulsing cloud to ground strike. During this storm off the marina in Darwin the storm produced some wonderful strikes but this one was ver close and pulsed several times during the capture of it.
ANVIL LIGHTNING
Anvil lightning happens during the dying or dissipating stage of the thunderstorm. As the updraught pushes the cloud top to the upper regions of the atmosphere the cloud cap spreads out laterally and discharges 'crawl' underneath the anvil. This lightning is also called 'spider' or 'crawlers' and is excellent to view as it is a lot slower in motion compared to single bolts. Anvil lightning can still be dangerous as there is the potential to have a cloud to ground strike from this area. You should avoid taking photographs from underneath the anvil.
Streamer lightning
Probably the most unpredictable and most beautiful. Lines of lightning streak below the cloud base in all directions. Most often you see them stretch great distances, but this is what can happen as the connection meets ground - or ocean in this case. I was less than 200 metres from these strikes when one grounded and there were people fishing on the wharf below it!
Streamer lightning
Probably the most unpredictable and most beautiful. Lines of lightning streak below the cloud base in all directions. Most often you see them stretch great distances, but this is what can happen as the connection meets ground - or ocean in this case. I was less than 200 metres from these strikes when one grounded and there were people fishing on the wharf below it!
Intracloud lightning
Intracloud lightning is simply lightning that jumps from one cloud to another or within the cloud. A lot of the flashes you see within the cloud are these or strokes out of view and obscured by the cloud itself. They make for some wonderful photogenic shots.
Transient Luminous Events
(GRAPHIC AND TEXT COURTESY OF NOAA)
Large thunderstorms are capable of producing other kinds of electrical phenomena called transient luminous events (TLE's). The most common TLE's include red sprites, blue jets, and elves.
Red Sprites can appear directly above an active thunderstorm as a large but weak flash. They usually happen at the same time as powerful positive CG lightning strokes. They can extend up to 60 miles from the cloud top. Sprites are mostly red and usually last no more than a few seconds, and their shapes are described as resembling jellyfish, carrots, or columns. Because sprites are not very bright, they can only be seen at night. They are rarely seen with the human eye, so they are most often imaged with highly sensitive cameras.
Blue jets emerge from the top of the thundercloud, but are not directly associated with cloud-to-ground lighting. They extend up in narrow cones fanning out and disappearing at heights of 25-35 miles. Blue jets last a fraction of a second and have been witnessed by pilots.
Elves are rapidly expanding disk-shaped regions of glowing that can be up to 300 miles across. They last less than a thousandth of a second, and occur above areas of active cloud to ground lightning. Scientists believe elves result when an energetic electromagnetic pulse extends up into the ionosphere. Elves were discovered in 1992 by a low-light video camera on the Space Shuttle.
LIGHTNING - HOW IT ALL WORKS:
As a thunderstorm moves over the Earth's surface, an equal but opposite charge is induced in the Earth below, and the induced ground charge follows the movement of the cloud.
An initial bipolar discharge, or path of ionized air, starts from a negatively charged mixed water and ice region in the storm. The discharge ionized channels are called leaders. The negative charged leaders, called a "stepped leader", proceed generally downward in a number of quick jumps, each up to 50 meters long. Along the way, the stepped leader may branch into a number of paths as it continues to descend. The progression of stepped leaders takes a comparatively long time (hundreds of milliseconds) to approach the ground.
This initial phase involves a relatively small current (tens or hundreds of amperes), and the leader is almost invisible compared to the subsequent lightning channel.When a stepped leader approaches the ground, the presence of opposite charges on the ground enhances the electric field. The electric field is highest on trees and tall buildings. If the electric field is strong enough, a conductive discharge (called a postive streamer) can develop from these points.
(the Democratic Republic of Congo is lightning capital of the world...)
This was first theorized by Heinz Kasemir. As the field increases, the positive streamer may evolve into a hotter, higher current leader which eventually connects to the descending stepped leader from the cloud. It is also possible for many streamers to develop from many different objects simultaneously, with only one connecting with the leader and forming the main discharge path. Photographs have been taken on which non-connected streamers are clearly visible. When the two leaders meet, the electric current greatly increases. The region of high current propagates back up the positive stepped leader into the cloud with a "return stroke" that is the most luminous part of the lightning discharge.
(Aircraft struck by lightning courtesy of Zen Kawasaki
Department of Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University
Yamada-Oaka 2-1, Suita, Osaka)
When the electric field becomes strong enough, an electrical discharge (the bolt of lightning) occurs within clouds or between clouds and the ground. During the strike, successive portions of air become a conductive discharge channel as the electrons and positive ions of air molecules are pulled away from each other and forced to flow in opposite directions.
The electrical discharge rapidly superheats the discharge channel, causing the air to expand rapidly and produce a shock wave heard as thunder. The rolling and gradually dissipating rumble of thunder is caused by the time delay of sound coming from different portions of a long stroke
(NOAA radar sequence of lightning over Colorado USA)
*** You'll find a comprehensive safety area on lightning in the storm chasing page...if you haven't had enough!.***