Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: Wolfeh on 11/01/2009 00:00:30
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As I am new to the forum, I can only hope that this is the right forum to post this question in.
A while back (More than a year), a storm hit me by surprise, its characteristics being:
There was no thunder.
There was no rain.
The air was completely stiff, almost no wind.
In the horizon, what can only be described as a huge explosion of blue light occurred for about a second, in which time every form of electricity for miles gave out.
These bursts of light occurred about five to seven times over the course of an hour.
Each time, there was no sound whatsoever coming from the bursts, however my subwoofer would give out a quick "boom" each time one of the bursts occurred.
There were NO forms of bolt lightning at all during this time.
I really didn't know where to ask about this, but I recently regained an interest in the subject and I'd like to know if anyone here can explain what the hell this was?
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Where exactly in the world did this occur?
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The consequences of this storm, that you describe, fit with an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) i.e. electrical equipment tripping out. Along with the 'blue' colour you describe, this may have been one of those 'megalightning' storms, which send discharges to over one hundred km up, right through the stratosphere and in to the ionosphere, which might explain the lack of sound.
Have a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightening#Upper-atmospheric_lightning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightening#Upper-atmospheric_lightning)
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Well, after reviewing a few videos of Megalightning I can only assume this is the case.
Blue jets differ from sprites in that they project from the top of the cumulonimbus above a thunderstorm, typically in a narrow cone, to the lowest levels of the ionosphere 40 to 50 km (25 to 30 miles) above the earth. In addition, whereas red sprites tend to be associated with significant lightning strikes, blue jets do not appear to be directly triggered by lightning (they do, however, appear to relate to strong hail activity in thunderstorms).[7]
However, it says that Elves are the cause of the EM pulse and they are red, not blue. Is there any other possible explanation?
No matter what it is, it's obvious that I've seen something very rare.
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Yup - relatively rare, at least when observed from the ground. The phenomenon had been reported from high-flying aircraft, and even from spacecraft iirc, for quite a while but it has been only relatively recently that serious efforts were made, successfully, to record and prove their existence.
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elves are red, sprites are blue. although, I would say you were simply observing lightning from a dry storm. you did not hear thunder because you were too far away.