International Space Station detects blue ‘lightning’ rays shooting up from thunderclouds that could affect greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere
- The phenomenon was detected by the European Space Agency’s ASIM device
- This is a collection of cameras, photometers, and an X-ray / gamma ray detector
- The blue ray was seen from a cloud over the Pacific island of Nauru
- It reached into the stratosphere and was accompanied by a ring-like ‘elves’
- Understanding these phenomena could shed light on how lightning arises
Blue ‘jets’ of lightning bolts shooting up from storm clouds have been detected by an instrument aboard the International Space Station, a study reports.
Measured by the European Space Agency’s Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), the phenomenon originated in a cloud top over the Pacific island of Nauru.
It reached into the stratosphere – experts believe blue jets can cover distances of up to 50km – and lasted less than a second.
Because blue jets form above the cloud layer, they are very difficult to see – and study – from Earth’s surface.
The International Space Station, orbiting about 400 kilometers around the clouds, will have an unobstructed view.
Understanding the formation of blue jets – and other energetic phenomena in the stratosphere and above – can reveal clues as to how lightning is triggered.
Experts also believe that blue jets may play a role in influencing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere – something that studies need to explore further.
Blue ‘jets’ of lightning bolts shooting up from storm clouds have been detected by an instrument aboard the International Space Station, a study reports. Pictured is a photo of a thunderstorm taken from the ISS by astronaut Andreas Mogensen in 2015
ASIM – a collection of optical cameras and photometers, as well as an X-ray and gamma ray detector – was installed on the International Space Station in 2018.
The monitor is designed to search for electrical discharges that arise in stormy weather and that extend above thunderstorms into the upper atmosphere.
The blue beam recently detected by ASIM was kicked off by an intense series of five 10 microsecond flashes, the researchers reported.
The flash also generated the so-called ‘elves’: expanding rings of optical and ultraviolet radiation that appear at the bottom of the ionosphere, some 80 km above the Earth’s surface.
They are formed by electrons and radio waves that interact with the atmosphere.
“Blue jets are lightning-like, atmospheric electrical discharges of several hundred milliseconds that blow into cones as they propagate from the top of thunderclouds in the stratosphere,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“They are thought to start with an electrical disturbance between the positively charged upper part of a cloud and a layer of negative charge at the cloud boundary and in the sky above,” they continued.
‘The degradation forms a leader that turns into streamers when propagated. However, the leader’s characteristics, and the height to which it extends above the clouds, are not well characterized. ‘
Understanding the formation of blue jets – and other energetic phenomena in the stratosphere and above, as shown – can reveal clues to how lightning is triggered
Measured by the European Space Agency’s Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (photo), the phenomenon originated in a cloud top over the Pacific island of Nauru
“This article is an impressive highlight of the many new phenomena ASIM is observing over thunderstorms,” said Astrid Orr, ESA’s natural sciences coordinator for human and robotic spaceflights.
‘[It] shows that we still have so much to discover and learn about our universe. ‘
“Congratulations to all the scientists and university teams who made this possible, as well as the engineers who built the observatory and the ground support teams that ASIM operates,” she continued.
The effort, she concluded, was “a truly international collaboration that has led to amazing discoveries.”
The full findings of the study are published in the journal Nature.