Lightning strikes in European eastern Alps doubled over the past 40 years

Lightning strikes in European eastern Alps doubled over the past 40 years

A team of researchers from the Departments of Geosciences, Atmospheric Sciences, and Statistics at Innsbruck has reported a doubling in the number of detected lightning strikes in the high altitudes of the European Eastern Alps over the last 40 years.

Observations reveal lightning as the source of extreme air-cleaning oxidants

Observations reveal lightning as the source of extreme air-cleaning oxidants

Observations from NASA's storm-chasing aircraft DC-8 reveal that lightning can produce extremely high concentrations of two major oxidants that help clear the air and the atmosphere. In May and June 2012, the DC-8 jet flew through the eye of thunderstorms over…

Thunderstorms create radioactivity

Thunderstorms create radioactivity

A new study, published this week in Nature, shows that thunderstorms can also produce radioactivity by triggering nuclear reactions in the atmosphere. This may sound like the plot of a blockbuster science fiction disaster. But in reality, it’s nothing to worry…

Shockingly powerful lightning on Earth

Shockingly powerful lightning on Earth

A new scientific paper suggests that lightning on Earth may be vastly more powerful than conventional science has ever suggested. Investigators sought to answer how much energy is in a terrestrial bolt of lightning through the study of fulgurites, which are hollow…

Lightning reshapes rocks at the atomic level

Lightning reshapes rocks at the atomic level

At a rock outcropping in southern France, a jagged fracture runs along the granite. The surface in and around the crevice is discolored black, as if wet or covered in algae. But, according to a new paper coauthored by the University of Pennsylvania’s Reto