Lightning Research Group, Electrical Engineering Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech, Colon 1, Terrassa, 08222, Spain.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Duke University, PO Box 90291, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
Nat Commun. 2019 Sep 25;10(1):4350. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12261-y.
In 2002 it was discovered that a lightning discharge can rise out of the top of tropical thunderstorms and branch out spectacularly to the base of the ionosphere at 90 km altitude. Several dozens of such gigantic jets have been recorded or photographed since, but eluded capture by high-speed video cameras. Here we report on 4 gigantic jets recorded in Colombia at a temporal resolution of 200 µs to 1 ms. During the rising stage, one or more luminous steps are revealed at 32-40 km, before a continuous final jump of negative streamers to the ionosphere, starting in a bidirectional (bipolar) fashion. The subsequent trailing jet extends upward from the jump onset, with a current density well below that of lightning leaders. Magnetic field signals tracking the charge transfer and optical Geostationary Lightning Mapper data are now matched unambiguously to the precisely timed final jump process in a gigantic jet.
2002 年，人们发现闪电放电可以从热带雷暴的顶部升起，并壮观地分支到 90 公里高空的电离层底部。自那以后，已经记录或拍摄到了几十个这样的巨大喷流，但都未能被高速摄像机捕捉到。在这里，我们报告了在哥伦比亚以 200µs 到 1ms 的时间分辨率记录到的 4 个巨大喷流。在上升阶段，在开始连续的负流光向电离层的最终跳跃之前，在 32-40km 处会显示出一个或多个发光的步骤，该跳跃以双向（双极）的方式开始。随后的尾流从跳跃开始向上延伸，电流密度远低于闪电先导的电流密度。现在，通过跟踪电荷转移的磁场信号和光学静止闪电测绘仪数据，可以将闪电与巨大喷流中精确定时的最终跳跃过程明确匹配。
