玻多黎各上空的巨大喷流闪电

2021年9月29日

Gigantic Jet Lightning from Puerto Rico
Video Credit & Copyright: Frankie Lucena

Explanation: Have you ever seen a gigantic jet? They are extremely rare but tremendously powerful. Gigantic jets are a type of lightning discharge documented only this century that occur between some thunderstorms and the Earth’s ionosphere high above them. Pictured above is the middle and top of one such jet caught last week by a lightning and meteor camera from Puerto Rico, USA. The jet traversed perhaps 70 kilometers in just under one second. Gigantic jets are much different from regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The bottoms of gigantic jets appear similar in appearance to another type cloud-to-above strike called blue jets, while the tops appear similar to upper-atmosphere red sprites. Although the mechanism and trigger that causes gigantic jets is a topic of research, it is clear that the jets reduce charge imbalance between different parts of Earth’s atmosphere. A good way to look for gigantic jets is to watch a powerful but distant thunderstorm from a clear location.

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Tomorrow’s picture: Gorgeous Spiral

玻多黎各上空的巨大喷流闪电
影片提供与版权: Frankie Lucena

说明: 你看过巨大喷流吗？它们极为罕见，不过威力极强。巨大喷流是这世纪才刚发现，发生在地球某些雷暴系统与其上方电离层之间的放电现象。上面影片里的这例巨大喷流，是在这个星期由位于美国玻多黎各的闪电与流星相机所记录的。这例原是黑白但经过人工上色的巨大喷流，在不到1秒的期间，向上伸展了将近70公里。巨大喷流与常见的云间及云对地闪电大为不同。巨大喷流的底部形似另一种也是从云层向上发展的蓝色喷流，而其顶部的形状则和高层大气的红色精灵很相似。虽然触发巨大喷流的机制至今仍然是研究的题材，但很明显的，这类喷流会降低不同地球大气层之间的电量失衡。寻找巨大喷流的最佳方式，是从有清楚视野的地点，观测远方活动剧烈的雷暴系统。

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明日的图片: Gorgeous Spiral