Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 31 January 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5607, pp. 669 - 670
DOI: 10.1126/science.1082432
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE:
Deciphering the Energetics of Lightning

Philip E. Krider

The search for radiation from thunderstorms and lightning has been on for over 80 years, but as Krider explains in his Perspective, observational difficulties are only now beginning to be overcome. He highlights the report by Dwyer et al., who have observed energetic radiation--x-rays, gamma-rays and/or relativistic electrons--during rocket-triggered lightning. Measurements of this kind should help to explain the energetic processes that occur during natural lightning.

The author is in the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. E-mail: krider{at}atmo.arizona.edu

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)