14 March 2002

Atmospheric science: Charging up the ionosphere

Eighty years ago, C. T. R. Wilson, of cloud chamber fame, predicted the existence of electrical discharges between the tops of thunderclouds and the upper atmosphere. Two types of optical flashes have been seen since, 'sprites' shooting down from the ionosphere and cone-shaped 'blue jets' rising from the cloud tops. The cover image is from the video of an elusive event — a demonstration of a direct path of electrical contact between thundercloud and lower ionosphere. The sprite-like blue jet reached 70 km above the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico.

Electrical discharge from a thundercloud top to the lower ionosphere
VICTOR P. PASKO, MARK A. STANLEY, JOHN D. MATHEWS, UMRAN S. INAN & TROY G. WOOD
Nature 416, 152–154 (14 March 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (287 K) | Supplementary Information |

Giant blue jet caught on film