Interesting (to me) that the flash shown on the included diagram has positive and negative branches. That suggests to me that while it is one "flash", it is actually multiple discharges, one triggering others in a chain-reaction-like process. Anyone know how these things work?
This might be the relevant sentence from the paper (but I'm not a weather scientist)
"Events were only used in the standard GLM clustering model to delineate flashes according to spatiotemporal proximity (events within 330 ms and 16.5 km of each other form the same flash)."
The simplest possible lightning bolt would be a straight line with a positive side and a negative side, no? If so, isn't that a single discharge?
Certainly what you're describing happens. You see the effect in the spark gaps of a Marx generator: one discharge triggers the next. I'm just saying that it's not necessarily the case that multiple differently charged branches mean spatially disconnected bolts. The path of least resistance is going to be through a nearby bolt of lightning, supposing one exists (plasma being a good conductor) so I'd expect they have a tendency to merge, so you get a network of sources and sinks. Probably as new nodes join the network what was once a source could become a sink--the channel being open for further equalization with new distant point.
> It's 2017, and a thunderstorm shoots off a lightning bolt. ... . It sets a new world record, besting the previous title holder — a 477-mile (768-km) bolt from 2020
So the previous record holder never should have held it at all (an earlier one beats a later one)? How was that missed? Is there that much data to sift through? Why is that not addressed in the article?
From the linked paper[0], "In 2024, the entire GLM data record was reprocessed with new computational methods whose improved efficiency allowed difficult portions of the data record to be examined. This reprocessing inspired a reevaluation of the 2017 megaflash[...] after it identified a hitherto-overlooked discharge"
Space is 60 miles away, and this was over 500 miles. Maybe it hit the ground eventually, but the vast majority of the strike was definitely intra-cloud.
Can we all stop making the football field/alligator/sedan/truck measure of length joke?
If you want to clown on Americans, quit using the imperial units at all! Be better than us, don’t stoop to our level and spit in our hair.
Coming from an American who switched to metric a decade ago to lead by example in my friend group.
You may see it has a clever, pithy joke but it is feeding American anti-intellectualism due to the pygmalion effect. Treat someone like they’re going to be stupid, and they’re going to be stupid.
Interesting (to me) that the flash shown on the included diagram has positive and negative branches. That suggests to me that while it is one "flash", it is actually multiple discharges, one triggering others in a chain-reaction-like process. Anyone know how these things work?
> it is actually multiple discharges
This might be the relevant sentence from the paper (but I'm not a weather scientist)
"Events were only used in the standard GLM clustering model to delineate flashes according to spatiotemporal proximity (events within 330 ms and 16.5 km of each other form the same flash)."
The simplest possible lightning bolt would be a straight line with a positive side and a negative side, no? If so, isn't that a single discharge?
Certainly what you're describing happens. You see the effect in the spark gaps of a Marx generator: one discharge triggers the next. I'm just saying that it's not necessarily the case that multiple differently charged branches mean spatially disconnected bolts. The path of least resistance is going to be through a nearby bolt of lightning, supposing one exists (plasma being a good conductor) so I'd expect they have a tendency to merge, so you get a network of sources and sinks. Probably as new nodes join the network what was once a source could become a sink--the channel being open for further equalization with new distant point.
Whether to count that as one thing or many, idk.
First it's emails [0], and now it's lightning. What else is going to be stuck at just over a 500 mile range?
[0] https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html
> It's 2017, and a thunderstorm shoots off a lightning bolt. ... . It sets a new world record, besting the previous title holder — a 477-mile (768-km) bolt from 2020
So the previous record holder never should have held it at all (an earlier one beats a later one)? How was that missed? Is there that much data to sift through? Why is that not addressed in the article?
From the linked paper[0], "In 2024, the entire GLM data record was reprocessed with new computational methods whose improved efficiency allowed difficult portions of the data record to be examined. This reprocessing inspired a reevaluation of the 2017 megaflash[...] after it identified a hitherto-overlooked discharge"
[0] https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-2...
"Aw, that's adorable." ~ Jupiter
New thunderstorms wider than Earth are spewing out green lightning on Jupiter.
https://www.livescience.com/space/planets/new-thunderstorms-...
Wow there is an absolutely batshit concentration of ads on that page
I couldn't find if this was an intra-cloud flash or if it was a sky-to-ground strike. Anybody know?
Space is 60 miles away, and this was over 500 miles. Maybe it hit the ground eventually, but the vast majority of the strike was definitely intra-cloud.
By the animation it appears to be cloud to cloud.
Edit: I saw the animation in a different article. I'll come back if I can find it.
[flagged]
Can we all stop making the football field/alligator/sedan/truck measure of length joke?
If you want to clown on Americans, quit using the imperial units at all! Be better than us, don’t stoop to our level and spit in our hair.
Coming from an American who switched to metric a decade ago to lead by example in my friend group.
You may see it has a clever, pithy joke but it is feeding American anti-intellectualism due to the pygmalion effect. Treat someone like they’re going to be stupid, and they’re going to be stupid.
> Coming from an American who switched to metric a decade ago to lead by example in my friend group.
I agree with your overall comment. I’m interested what value you’ve found in actually switching to metric day to day?
Are ISO standard American football fields defined as 100 or 120 yards?
An NFL football field is 120 yards, according to WolframAlpha (which I used for the calculation).