The phenomenon of thunderstorms forming over erupting volcanic sites has been documented in other instances, but there is no clear cause/effect that scientists can agree upon. There have also been lighting strike/earthquake observations, which I would say seems to indicate a stronger relationship between the earth and the sky than we might normally suspect.
If I were pressed to hypothesize, I would say that the dust and heat react with the atmosphere, bonding with the vapour in the air like a cloud seeding chemical does, to stir up the storm, while the heat from the volcano expands the air above the caldera and that expansion somehow traps the storm in place as it forms. Just a guess.
To see more pictures of the volcano (two more during the thunderstorm and a bunch during the daytime) click here.
And for anyone not certain of the veracity of the images, Snopes.com has an article validating their authenticity (with a couple more images) here.
6 comments:
Whoa!
Now, that's absolutely surreal! If I'd seen that on a poster, I'd have considered it masterful airbrush work, and (wrongly) accepted no arguments.
As to why the storm forms, I'd have no guess. But I'd imagine that once formed, the lightning will favor breaking out in the volcanic plume, since the huge number of particles in it will be a far better electrical conductor than ordinary air.
Thanks for sharing that one...
Oh my!
While cool to look at, I'm sure glad that I wasn't anywhere near it...
:-O
Hey, Wes!
How have you been? I've missed talking to you. Are you ever going to join FaceBook....?
qt, I said EXACTLY the same thing when I stumbled across the pictures.
I concur, Wes. If I'd only seen the picture, I'd be in the same boat. Good point about the particulate conductivity Wes! I'll add that to my hypothesis.
And Lady, I wholeheartedly agree with both sentiments!
The particulate conductivity would likely also explain why the lightning seems to be spreading randomly through the plume in this picture, rather than hitting the earth in a more direct fashion.
Absolutely, GB. The lightning will follow the path of least resistance and follow the plume all the way to the ground. I'm wondering how much of a time exposure was used in getting all of those streamers to appear at the same time. Since the cloud of smoke will roll (roil?) somewhat, I'm not sure they could have done the exposure for more than a few seconds; still a very impressive real-time display...
And Lady... It's good to hear fom you. I have been seeing the Facebook requests in my email and I'm not ignoring them. I guess the best I can say is that joining Facebook is on my (rather lengthy) List Of Things To Do Real Soon Now... I will get to it, as best I can. Take care...
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