The next Science Café on Monday 11 March will explore sprites, gigantic jets, elves, halos and blue jets… names for the brief illuminations above thunderclouds that result from recently discovered lightning into space.
The talk will be delivered by Professor Martin Fullekrug from the University’s Centre for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science.
One type of these lightning strikes into space, called Sprites, are reddish illuminations of the Earth’s atmosphere, ranging from 40 – 80km in height and extending up to 50km in width.
They are seen above the largest thunderstorms on Earth and are initiated by strong lightning flashes to the ground. In recent years it was discovered that lightning discharges might also cause natural particle accelerators above our heads.
Professor Fullekrug will be asking whether the existence of these particle accelerators have an impact on technological systems or whether they are in part caused by human activity.
He’ll address how, while it is not currently possible to answer these big science questions without speculation, future research is set to shed new light on this last ‘terra incognita’ – the area above the thunderclouds.
Bath Science Cafe is a free event that takes place at The Raven in the centre of Bath at 7:30pm. For more information please visit http://bathsciencecafe.org.
The official Twitter hashtag is #BathSciCafe.
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