title: Electrical discharge from a thundercloud top to the lower ionosphere.
abstract: For over a century, numerous undocumented reports have appeared about unusual large-scale luminous phenomena above thunderclouds and, more than 80 years ago, it was suggested that an electrical discharge could bridge the gap between a thundercloud and the upper atmosphere. Since then, two classes of vertically extensive optical flashes above thunderclouds have been identified-sprites and blue jets. Sprites initiate near the base of the ionosphere, develop very rapidly downwards at speeds which can exceed 107 m s-1 (ref. 15), and assume many different geometrical forms. In contrast, blue jets develop upwards from cloud tops at speeds of the order of 105 m s-1 and are characterized by a blue conical shape. But no experimental data related to sprites or blue jets have been reported which conclusively indicate that they establish a direct path of electrical contact between a thundercloud and the lower ionosphere. Here we report a video recording of a blue jet propagating upwards from a thundercloud to an altitude of about 70 km, taken at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico. Above an altitude of 42 km-normally the upper limit for blue jets and the lower terminal altitude for sprites-the flash exhibited some features normally observed in sprites. As we observed this phenomenon above a relatively small thunderstorm cell, we speculate that it may be common and therefore represent an unaccounted for component of the global electric circuit.
authors.affiliation: CSSL Laboratory, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. vpasko@psu.edu
authors.forename: Victor P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Pasko
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Mathews
authors.forename: Umran S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Inan
authors.forename: Troy G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Wood