Identifying the reason lightning is striking in specific places and how it's picking its targets has been an occurrence most scientists have found hard to explain. Still, a new study initiative has led to a fresh perception of lightning behavior.
As described in a BGR report, "lightning strikes are either an incredible sight" or a terrifying exhibition of the power of Mother Nature, depending on how close one is to where they're hitting.
The study, which came out in Geophysical Research Letters, comes with a short video that finally presents answers to what's called "a burning question."
The video footage, which has only a 10-second duration, although it was captured through the use of an ultra-high-speed camera, shows the manner a lightning strike is evolving in just segments of a second.
Lightning takes place very fast, and due to that speedy occurrence, it is not possible to tell if it has originated with the human eye only.
'Streamers'
As there's progress in technology, scientists were able to discover something they had never seen before. It speedily turned out that lightning is not a bolt that journeys from the cloud to the ground, although instead, emission of unbalanced charges both in-ground and the clouds.
As indicated in the research, the so-called "streamer," in fact, comes from the ground or other objects such as light poles and trees and extends in the direction of the sky, meeting the "lightning 'leaders' from the cloud" and establishing a link.
Fortunately, there's an even more advanced high-speed imaging technology, and the study authors who worked on the new paper were able to slow things down so much that they determined where the attachment is taking place and also showed that the eventual location of the lightning strike is not yet identified when it starts to form in the sky.
In a statement, the study's co-lead author Rubin Jiang said it is a very vital issue as lightning development, "there are a lot of branches."
In their study, the researchers presented recent findings of the physical characteristics such a breakthrough phase grounded on extensive observations of the changes in electric field changes, as well as high‐speed optical video, which, for the first time, captured a pair of clear, consecutive images of the standard streamer zones' formation in natural lightning.
Lightning's Attachment Process
The co-lead author explained the specific target of the lightning strike is not identified at the start when it's initiating from the cloud.
Essentially, the lightning's attachment process is the process that ultimately identifies the object that's hit by the lightning flash.
Commenting on their new finding, Jian said their research is making "more specific-- the breakthrough phase." That means when a pair of lightning leaders get close enough to, or nearer each other, and they have not totally connected. In research history about lightning, such an occurrence is called the "final jump."
Based on the new study, the study authors said they have been able to "put more weight behind the theory that lightning" coming from a cloud is meeting a single streamer from the ground, absolutely forming a link and emitting the intense energy "in the form of a bolt of plasma."
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