Short and extraordinary light displays in the skies of the Himalayas are known as Gigantic Jets

Rare "gigantic jets," powerful lightning discharges reaching the ionosphere, were recently observed over the Himalayas. These phenomena, 50 times stronger than regular lightning, are rarely seen and contribute to balancing atmospheric charge. Scientists continue studying their formation and impacts.

Four gigantic jets – an extraordinary phenomenon known to erupt from thunderstorms – were recently captured shooting up from a storm forming near the Himalayas, across the border between China and Bhutan. This incredible event has been photographed and has received much media and scientific attention within the scientific community and among astronomy lovers.

Gigantic jets, a form of lightning that discharges between a thunderstorm and the ionosphere, were only discovered to exist in the 21st Century. While normal lightning involves transfer of electrical charges between the cloud and the ground or between two clouds, these spectacular electrical discharges can extend up to a distance of 80 kilometers above the surface of the earth.

This peculiar phenomenon was also captured last week and highlighted by NASA through Astronomy Picture of the Day. According to weather. on com, these gargantuan bolts are as strong as fifty times the normal lightning bolt and are among the most energetic processes in the earth’s atmosphere.

These phenomena are easily recognizable, with the lower part of the jets looking similar to blue jets — the other type of UAL — while their upper sections bear similarities to red sprites — yet another type of electrical discharge in the upper atmosphere. These jets are known to maintain the charge equilibrium and this is why there are always different layers in the earth’s atmosphere.

This recent sighting is just one of the many fully documented gigantic jet events that has been reported in the past. August 2023: Photographs taken by Frankie Lucena show a supersized jet breaking out of a storm system that would later evolve into Hurricane Franklin. India also seen this in 2018 when colossal jets were spotted over Odisha’s Bhadrak district from an airplane.

The scientific community still carries on research on these elusive events with an aim of trying to establish their formation, how often they occur and whether they have any effects on atmospheric dynamics. Scientists are specifically concerned about how gigantic jets relate to the other TLEs that are present in the ionosphere.

For those willing to see this not very frequent phenomenon, it is recommended to look for distant intense but not very close thunderstorms. But, again due to the rarity of the gigantic jets and even the irregularity of its occurrence, one needs really good luck and the right time to catch one.

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These gigantic jets are indeed great examples of how our knowledge of atmospheric electricity still has a long way to go and are a clear reminder of the mysteries of the world above us which on one end is our weather and the other end is space.