Scientists have proved that inverted lightning exists

An international group of physicists from the Georgia Institute of Technology were able to record an inverted lightning strike during a storm in Oklahoma in 2018, the work of scientists was published in the journal Science Advances.

Such lightning strikes not on the Ground, but in the atmosphere. For a long time, scientists could not study this rare phenomenon in detail.

The lightning was within the reach of many analysis collection devices and was recorded by a lightning mapping system, two weather radars and instruments of one of the satellites in a fixed orbit. This allowed scientists to study the phenomenon in detail.

Based on the data obtained, the scientists found that the pulse reached about 8 km in height, reaching the line where the Earth's atmosphere ends and outer space begins.

At the same time, it transferred about 300 coulombs of electric charge to the upper atmosphere (ordinary lightning carries only five coulombs). The team also managed to establish that the hottest point of lightning reached 4700 degrees Celsius.

However, according to scientists, there are still many questions. For example, it is still unclear why lightning is flying up. Researchers believe that something is preventing lightning from moving down or towards other clouds.