Video of "upside-down" lightning

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Researchers have caught rare "upside-down" lighting on video. Duke University scientists captured the gigantic jet shooting 40 miles up from the top of a thunderstorm.

Images of gigantic jets have only been recorded on five occasions since 2001. The Duke University team caught a one-second view and magnetic field measurements that are now giving scientists a much clearer understanding of these rare events.

"This confirmation of visible electric discharges extending from the top of a storm to the edge of the ionosphere provides an important new window on processes in Earth's global electrical circuit," said Brad Smull, program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, which funded the research.

"Our measurements show that gigantic jets are capable of transferring a substantial electrical charge to the lower ionosphere," (Duke professor Steven) Cummer said.
"They are essentially upward lightning from thunderclouds that deliver charge just like conventional cloud-to-ground lightning. What struck us was the size of this event."

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