O. H. Vaughan

Lightning induced brightening in the airglow layer

This report describes a transient luminosity observed at the altitude of the airglow layer (about 95 km) in coincidence with a lightning flash in a tropical oceanic thunderstorm directly beneath it. This event provides new evidence of direct coupling between lightning and ionospheric events. This luminous event in the ionosphere was the only one of its kind observed during an examination of several thousand images of lightning recorded under suitable viewing conditions with Space Shuttle cameras. Several possible mechanisms and interpretations are discussed briefly.

Observations of lightning in the stratosphere

An examination and analysis of video images of lightning, captured by the payload bay TV cameras of the space shuttle, provided a variety of examples of lightning in the stratosphere above thunderstorms. These images were obtained on several recent shuttle flights while conducting the Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE). The images of stratospheric lightning illustrate the variety of filamentary and broad vertical discharges in the stratosphere that may accompany a lightning flash. A typical event is imaged as a single or multiple filament extending 30 to 40 km above a thunderstorm that is illuminated by a series of lightning strokes. Examples are found in temperate and tropical areas, over the oceans, and over the land.

Blue starters : Brief upward discharges from an intense Arkansas thunderstorm

This paper documents the first observations of a new stratospheric electrical phenomenon associated with thunderstorms. On the night of 30 June (UT 1 July) 1994, 30 examples of these events, which we have called “blue starters,” were observed in a 6 m 44 s interval above the very energetic Arkansas thunderstorm where blue jets were first observed. The blue starters are distinguished from blue jets by a much lower terminal altitude. They are bright and blue in color, and protrude upward from the cloud top (17–18 km) to a maximum 25.5 km (83,655 ft.) in altitude. All blue starters events were recorded from two small areas near Texarkana, Texas/Arkansas where hail 7.0 cm in diameter was falling. Comparison to cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes revealed: 1. Blue starters were not observed to be coincident with either positive or negative CG flashes, but they do occur in the same general area as negative CG flashes; 2. Cumulative distributions of the negative CG flashes in ±5 s before and after the starter and within a radius of 50 km shows a significant reduction for about 3 s following the event in the two cells where starters and jets were observed. The energy deficit is approximately 109 J. It is possible that blue starters are a short-lived streamer phenomenon.

BLUE JETS : THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO LIGHTNING AND VERY LARGE HAILFALL, AND THEIR PHYSICAL MECHANISMS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION

Abstract Blue jets are narrow cones of blue light that appear to propagate upward from the cloud tops at speeds of about 100 km/s to terminal altitudes of about 40 km ( Wescott et al. 1995 ). In this paper, we present the results of a refined analysis of these optical phenomena and their relationship to cloud-to-ground (CG) and intracloud lightning, and to very large hailfall, their apparent color, and possible mechanisms for their production. In a thunderstorm where more than 50 of these events were observed from aircraft on the night of 1 July 1994, about half of the blue jets occurred in a cluster near Foreman, Arkansas, and the rest in an area near Texarkana, (Texas/Arkansas). Hail 7 cm in diameter fell in those two storm cells at the time of the blue jet occurrences. One other blue jet was observed over an intense multi cell storm in Kansas on the night of 3 July 1994. Comparison to cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning strokes revealed that blue jets were not coincident with either positive or negative CG strokes, but they occurred in the same general area as negative CG strokes and large hail, and that cumulative distributions of the negative CG strokes in ±5 s before and after the jet and within a radius of 15 km showed a significant reduction in the flash rate for 2 s following the event. From an analysis of color TV signal levels and calculations of quenching and atmospheric transmission, we conclude that significant ionization is present in the jets. Theoretical work by others suggests that the mechanism for their production is a streamer, but there remain discrepancies between these theories and the observations.

Mesoscale observations of lightning from Space Shuttle

Motion pictures have been taken at night by astronauts on the space shuttle showing lightning discharges that spread horizontally at speeds of 105 m·s−1 for distances over 60 km. Tape recordings have been made of the accompanying optical pulses detected with a photocell optical system. The observations show that lightning is often a mesoscale phenomenon that can convey large amounts of electric charge to earth from an extensive cloud system via a cloud-to-ground discharge.

Observations of Optical Lightning Emissions from above Thunderstorms Using U-2 Aircraft

In order to determine how to achieve orders of magnitude improvement in spatial and temporal resolution and in sensitivity of satellite lightning sensors, better quantitative measurements of the characteristics of the optical emissions from lightning as observed from above tops of thunderclouds are required. A number of sensors have been developed and integrated into an instrument package and flown aboard a NASA U-2 aircraft. The objectives have been to acquire optical lightning data needed for designing the lightning mapper sensor, and to study lightning physics and the correlation of lightning activity with storm characteristics. The instrumentation and observations of the program are reviewed and their significance for future research is discussed.

Nocturnal Photographs Taken from a U-2 Airplane Looking Down on Tops of Clouds Illuminated by Lightning

Abstract Photographs have been taken at night from an airplane at an altitude of 20 km looking directly down on the tops of thunderclouds illuminated by lightning. The hard, cauliflower-like appearance of the clouds gives evidence that strong convective activity is present. In one case a well-organized system of convective structures is evident whose deepest folds, apparently caused by downdrafts, are estimated to extend into the cloud for depths of as much as several kilometers. Often the whole cloud top, approximately 10 km across, is diffusely illuminated by lightning that is occurring lower in the cloud. In most of these cases no lightning channels can be seen, but occasionally a few segments of channels are visible bridging the folds between the convective protuberances. A few photographs show thin, weak, lightning channels that come out of the top of the cloud, proceed horizontally for several hundred meters, and then terminate in the clear air above the cloud. When such channels can be seen, the ba...

luminous electrical phenomena associated with nocturnal tornadoes in Huntsville, Ala., 3 April 1974

Eyewitness accounts and pictures are presented of the luminous electrical phenomena occurring when severe tornadoes passed through Madison County, Ala.