It has largely fallen out of the news...............

[shortliner]

but if you are interested in what happens when Mother nature gets cross and blows her top, you may like to look at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html

[PhilH]

great link, thanks Jack

[Waverley West]

Jack, some absolutely stunning shots. Thanks a million for posting the link.

 

Cheers,

Dave

[Mallard60022]

Superb link; what amazing phot's. Did I hear someone moan about a bit of dust on their precious car?

[John_Hughes]

Incredible! What wonderful pictures; thanks for pointing us to them!

[S.A.C Martin]

Fantastic link. Thank you for posting

 

I have a question mind, I've not been able to find an answer as yet - why is the lightning red?

[PhilH]

I have a question mind, I've not been able to find an answer as yet - why is the lightning red?

 

Stands to reason that it's the glow from the molten lava.

[Pugsley]

I don't think the glow form the lava would change the colour of the lightning, Phil, although I could be wrong.

 

Given that the lightning is jumping across the dust cloud, I would imagine that it's the high temperature burning of elements within the dust cloud that causes the lightning to turn red. I don't know what would be in the dust, I expect it to be iron rich, but ISTR that iron burns with a yellow flame.

[shortliner]

Possibly the flash being seen though the dushaze particles in the atmosphere - just a suggestion. also possibly the brilliance of the flash affecting the CMOS unit in a digital camera (again making the assumption that that is what was being used). Must admit I do like the photo with the two stallions having a go...

[S.A.C Martin]

There's a lot of pics on the net showing red lightning, but so far no answers as to why. The pic below:

 

http://image03.webshots.com/3/3/52/6/8535206GEDQNDPOJB_ph.jpg

 

Is red without a volcano anywhere near it so again, bit of a mystery going on here...

[PhilH]

Why I think it's a glow thing going on is that there are loads of photos around of this volcano with your bog standard white lightning - so whatever it is it isn't consistent.

[S.A.C Martin]

Why I think it's a glow thing going on is that there are loads of photos around of this volcano with your bog standard white lightning - so whatever it is it isn't consistent.

 

That's fair enough Phil - I certainly can't find any information on it.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Looks like the cover of an Ozzy Osbourne album from the '80s!

Utterly impressive though. I wasn't aware of this phenomenon until a couple of years ago, but it makes sense when you have all that material swirling about in the air generating static current, not to mention a mass of hot air being forced into surrounding cold air. Something is bound to go 'flash-bang' under those sort of conditions! B)

 

Dave.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Given that the lightning is jumping across the dust cloud, I would imagine that it's the high temperature burning of elements within the dust cloud that causes the lightning to turn red. I don't know what would be in the dust, I expect it to be iron rich, but ISTR that iron burns with a yellow flame.

Think that is part of it, plus the filtering and scattering effect of the dust. Don't forget that a lot of the ejecta emerges as a glass, and some of it will be translucent to an extent, and the particulate size can have a colour effect also by scattering (why we have a blue sky with the sun at high elevations, orange sky when the sun is low, more atmospheric particulate scattering).

[Robert]

Utterly impressive - thanks for the link Shortliner.

 

It does of course show us the power of nature, and how powerless and insignificant we actually are, which is rather humbling.

 

Also, it shows us how difficult things are for those living around the volcano. We were inconvenienced by the lack of air travel for a couple of days, but many people there have lost their homes and/or their livelihoods.

[Ron Ron Ron]

Thanks for the link Shortliner.

I've posted the link to several friends who are all equally impressed.

 

 

.

[Pacific231G]

Looks like the cover of an Ozzy Osbourne album from the '80s!

Utterly impressive though. I wasn't aware of this phenomenon until a couple of years ago, but it makes sense when you have all that material swirling about in the air generating static current, not to mention a mass of hot air being forced into surrounding cold air. Something is bound to go 'flash-bang' under those sort of conditions! B)

 

Dave.

 

If I remember my met exam properly normal lightning in a thunderstorm is really a side effect of the rapidly rising air masses in a developed Cumulo Nimbus as the rising air is effectively rubbing against the stationary or falling air outside the column. Pilots avoid thunderstorms not so much because of the risk of a lightning strike but more because of the dangers posed by the rapid vertical movements of air and the sudden changes in that as you move under the cell.

 

You also get lightning around the column of rising hot gases in a nuclear explosion though hopefully we'll not see that type of lightning any more. I think it's the fact that heated air rises quickly that causes the static rather than the actual difference in temperature between the different air masses.

 

It would be interesting to know whether the Bunsfield explosion was associated with any lightning but I suspect you need a bit more altitude to really get the effect.

 

 

Amazing pictures, thanks for posting the link Jack

 

David

[griffgriff]

I agree with Pacific... but why is it orange? I suspect that gas chromatography might be a plausible answer? Any chemists out there?

 

Edit

 

basaltic lava is rich in compounds containing calcium, sodium and magnesium - they perhaps would burn together with an orange flame - the dust that the lightening is sparking through would of course be chock full of these compounds - that's my theory anyway???

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

It would be interesting to know whether the Bunsfield explosion was associated with any lightning but I suspect you need a bit more altitude to really get the effect.

I have seen several films of fuel/air munitions which operate (by intent) pretty much as the Buncefield vapour detonation did by accident: don't recall any associated lightning. Probably too short term as an event to do the necessary charge transport: volcanoes, really large fires, cu-nim cells, nuclear weapons, all generate powerful sustained updrafts (with a massive amount of ionisation in the case of nukes) much the same process that we imitate in a lab with a van de Graaf generator.

 

Decent prog on C4 last night, covering the vulcanicity of Iceland, and the potential treats in store from that source, based on past eruption history.

I agree with Pacific... but why is it red? I suspect that gas chromatography might be a plausible answer? Any chemists out there?

Range of possibilities which would need inspection of the ejecta: filtering, scattering, emission spectra of the elements heated in the lightning. Bear in mind too that the image collecting device may bias to a colour when overloaded; some of the coloration could be an artefact of the CCD or whatever.

[PMP]

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/data/VAG_1272886826.png

 

Could be 'challenging' again for operations after Tomorrow morning ....