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Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.

ABSTRACT: In 2002 it was discovered that a lightning discharge can rise out of the top of tropical thunderstorms and branch out spectacularly to the base of the ionosphere at 90?km altitude. Several dozens of such gigantic jets have been recorded or photographed since, but eluded capture by high-speed video cameras. Here we report on 4 gigantic jets recorded in Colombia at a temporal resolution of 200 µs to 1?ms. During the rising stage, one or more luminous steps are revealed at 32-40?km, before a continuous final jump of negative streamers to the ionosphere, starting in a bidirectional (bipolar) fashion. The subsequent trailing jet extends upward from the jump onset, with a current density well below that of lightning leaders. Magnetic field signals tracking the charge transfer and optical Geostationary Lightning Mapper data are now matched unambiguously to the precisely timed final jump process in a gigantic jet.

SUBMITTER: van der Velde OA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6761152 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.

van der Velde Oscar A OA Montanyà Joan J López Jesús A JA Cummer Steven A SA

Nature communications 20190925 1

In 2002 it was discovered that a lightning discharge can rise out of the top of tropical thunderstorms and branch out spectacularly to the base of the ionosphere at 90 km altitude. Several dozens of such gigantic jets have been recorded or photographed since, but eluded capture by high-speed video cameras. Here we report on 4 gigantic jets recorded in Colombia at a temporal resolution of 200 µs to 1 ms. During the rising stage, one or more luminous steps are revealed at 32-40 km, before a contin ...[more]

PMID: 31554792

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Project description:Razanandrongobe sakalavae Maganuco, Dal Sasso & Pasini, 2006 is a large predatory archosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of the Mahajanga Basin, NW Madagascar. It was diagnosed on the basis of teeth and a fragmentary maxilla, but its affinities were uncertain. Here we describe new cranial remains (above all, an almost complete right premaxilla and a caudally incomplete left dentary) that greatly improve our knowledge on this enigmatic species and reveal its anatomy to be crocodylomorph. The right premaxilla indicates that the rostrum was deep, wide, and not pointed; it bears five teeth that are sub-vertical and just slightly curved lingually; the mesial teeth are U-shaped in cross-section and have serrated carinae on the lingual side; the aperturae nasi osseae (external bony nares) are confluent and face rostrally; and there is no lateral groove at the premaxillomaxillary suture for reception of a hypertrophied lower caniniform tooth. The preserved portion of the left dentary has an edentulous tip and bears eight large mandibular teeth of which the mesial (1-3) are the largest, but none is a hypertrophied caniniform tooth; the mandibular (dentary) symphysis extends caudally to the level of the third tooth; the splenial is not preserved, but its sutural marks on the dentary indicate that it contributed to the mandibular symphysis for at least 20% of the symphyseal length in dorsal aspect. On the basis of this new data, some previously uncertain features of the holotype maxilla-such as the margin of the suborbital fenestra, the contact surfaces for the palatine, the ectopterygoid, and the jugal-are now apparent. Testing of the phylogenetic position of the species within Crocodylomorpha indicates that R. sakalavae is a mesoeucrocodylian. It also represents one of the earliest events of exacerbated increase in body size along the evolutionary history of the group. In addition, it is by far the oldest notosuchian. A cranial reconstruction of this gigantic predator is also attempted here. The very robust jaw bones of R. sakalavae, coupled with its peculiar dentition, strongly suggest a diet that included hard tissue such as bone and tendon.

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Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.

Publications

Gigantic jet discharges evolve stepwise through the middle atmosphere.

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