Volcanic lighting thunderstorm also commonly known as a DIRTY THUNDERSTORM is a peculiar climatic anomaly in which powerful lightnings are produced during a volcanic eruption. The blazing hot crest of ash rising above ebullient volcanic blasts often breach with lightning storms.

     

    

    HOW IS THIS CAUSED:-

          For a long time scientists have been wondering on how sand & other  smaller grains gain electrical charges as they bang with one another. This causes lighting in dust storms and in crests of volcanic slag. When particles collide, they transfer energy vertically, such that +ve charges move down & -ve charges move up into the cloud.

       Mr. Herrmann working with ETH colleague Thomas Pahtz & Troy Shinbrot of Rutger's University's campus in Piscatway, New Jersey, came up with a model to prove the above phenomenon.

           Before banging, all the grains are neutral, but are polarized by a background electric field, with the negative charge moving to the top of the grain & the positive charge moving to the bottom of the grain,  proportional to the ground. When they collide they become neutral at the point of acquaintance, but when they move away from each other they become more polarized. So this increases the intensity of the lightning which occurs again & again for some time. Lots of water too are released during an eruption, which acts as fuel to these dirty storms.

 

          All the above photos were taken by Martin Rietze. He is a photographer who is willing to go to any extent to take wonderful, stunning & impossible photos in the world. It is the Sakurajima Volcano (February 2013). His photo was selected by NASA as - "NASA's Astronomy Photo OF The Day."