Most powerful upward lightning event

On 14 May 2018, a massive discharge of lightning known as a “gigantic jet” was recorded over south-west Oklahoma, USA, shooting from a cloudtop up some 50 miles (80 km) into the ionosphere (the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space). The discharge transferred 300 coulombs of electrical charge – between 60 and 300 times more than a typical lightning bolt. The findings were published in Science Advances on 3 August 2022.

Gigantic jets are relatively rare events, at least to be recorded. The first such examples to be classified as “gigantic jets” were documented in Puerto Rico and Taiwan, China, in 2002–03. Estimates for their frequency range from between 1,000 and 50,000 gigantic jets per year, most often in the tropics. The 2018 Oklahoma gigantic jet was particularly exceptional not only for its scale and non-tropical location but the unprecedented level of detail that was captured.

Upper-atmospheric lightning phenomena that occur above a storm system are technically referred to as “transient luminous events” (TLEs). There are several different types, all of which display some unique characteristics that distinguish them from lightning that occurs in and below the clouds (i.e., tropospheric lightning). Other examples of TLEs are “sprites” (often red/orange-coloured discharges which assume various forms likened to columns, carrots and even jellyfish) and “blue jets” (slightly smaller, lower-altitude versions of gigantic jets with a distinct blue colouration).

The study of the 2018 Oklahoma gigantic jet was a collaboration between the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Texas Tech University, the University of New Hampshire, Duke University, the University of Oklahoma, NOAA, Los Alamos National Laboratory (all USA) and Politécnica de Catalunya (Spain), led by Dr Levi Boggs of the Georgia Tech Research Institute.