A photographer living in Puerto Rico captured impressive images of rare lightning created by the storm that later became Hurricane Franklin. Frankie Lucena was fast enough to take photos and managed to capture the incident before it disappeared completely.
This phenomenon is more commonly known as giant jets and consists of cracks in the sky created by upward-moving bolts of lightning, the most powerful type of lightning. Scientists say these events occur 1,000 times a year and have more than 50 times the power of a conventional lightning bolt.
Upside-down lightning can reach higher than 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. This means that these lightning bolts often touch the bottom of the ionosphere, depositing their electrical charge into a large layer of electrically charged particles. It’s a fascinating event, and it’s almost extraordinary to see it captured in photographs. Lucena also shared a video of the incident on YouTube.
Frankie Lucena shared his photos on Flickr; Here you can view the full resolution images for yourself to see what the lightning looks like. Although these rare giant jets are not a familiar sight, they are most frequently seen in tropical regions, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.
But this is a natural phenomenon we’ve only known about for 20 years, so the information we have is still very new and scientists will undoubtedly learn more as they study more of this beautiful and amazing phenomenon.
As we enter hurricane season, we’re likely to see more images of this interesting phenomenon and more storms like Hurricane Franklin forming over the oceans. Unfortunately, these beautiful views do not reduce the damage caused by storms, especially when they occur in densely populated areas.
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