One of nature’s rarest events has been caught on film: lightning in a volcano’s plume.
Termed a “dirty thunderstorm,” this is a rare weather phenomenon that only occurs in very large volcanic eruptions.
Though these “thunderstorms” are not fully understood, scientists suspect that electrical charges are generated when rock fragments and ash particles collide with one another to produce static charges.
Well-known volcano filmmaker Marc Szeglat explained, “In a normal thunderstorm, ice crystals collide and generate electric charges, which results in lightning. In an eruption, cloud ash particles collide instead of ice crystals.”
Martin A. Uman, co-director of the University of Florida Lightning Research program witnessed one such eruption. “As the plume started going downwind, it seemed to have a life of its own and produced some 300 more or less normal [lightning bolts] … The implication is that it has produced more charge than it started with. Otherwise [the plume] couldn’t continue to make lightning.”
Amazing!
Researchers continue to study these strange events, but surveying dirty thunderstorms is extremely challenging due to their rare and violent nature.
Where do you have a chance to see one of these once in a lifetime shows? The volcano with the most frequent dirty thunderstorms is Japan’s Sakurajima volcano, which has been erupting constantly since 1955.
Visitors are told to remain cautious in this location, however, because experts believe that a colossal eruption is imminent.
Watch some of the only footage of a dirty thunderstorm at Sakurajima here:
