Assessment of Unusual Gigantic Jets observed during the Monsoon season: First observations from Indian Subcontinent

作者：Singh Rajesh^*; Maurya Ajeet K; Chanrion Olivier; Neubert Torsten; Cummer Steven A; Mlynarczyk Janusz; Cohen Morris B; Siingh Devendraa; Kumar Sushil

来源：Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1): 16436.

DOI：10.1038/s41598-017-16696-5

Gigantic Jets are electric discharges from thunderstorm cloud tops to the bottom of ionosphere at similar to 90 km altitude and electrically connect the troposphere and lower ionosphere. Since their first report in 2002, sporadic observations have been reported from ground and space based observations. Here we report first observations of Gigantic Jets in Indian subcontinent over the Indo-Gangetic plains during the monsoon season. Two storms each produced two jets with characteristics not documented so far. Jets propagated similar to 37 km up remarkably in similar to 5 ms with velocity of similar to 7.4 x 10(6) ms(-1) and disappeared within similar to 40-80 ms, which is faster compared to jets reported earlier. The electromagnetic signatures show that they are of negative polarity, transporting net negative charge of similar to 17-23 C to the lower ionosphere. One jet had an unusual form observed for the first time, which emerged from the leading edge of a slowly drifting complex convective cloud close to the highest regions at similar to 17 km altitude. A horizontal displacement of similar to 10 km developed at similar to 50 km altitude before connecting to the lower ionosphere. Modeling of these Gigantic jets suggests that Gigantic Jets may bend when initiated at the edge of clouds with misaligned vertical charge distribution.

• 出版日期2017-11-27