Credible explanation please: Cloud rapidly changes shape

Originally posted by yamother44
reply to post by WakeUpRiseUp

 

Thank you. If it is a natural occurrence, how common is it (at least in your understanding)?

I believe this is "jets" or "sprites". By the looks of it, the cloud in the video is a "thunderhead" (possible super-cell). With every strike of lightning there is a corresponding "sprite" or "jet" emitted into space.

IMO, it looks like that, it looks like the suns reflection off of the "jets" or "sprites"...i guess we'll never know though

Originally posted by jrmcleod
I believe this is "jets" or "sprites". By the looks of it, the cloud in the video is a "thunderhead" (possible super-cell). With every strike of lightning there is a corresponding "sprite" or "jet" emitted into space.

I don't think it's jets or sprites, as they occur much higher than the tops of thunderdclouds. This is probably just basic intra-cloud electrical discharges (lightning) but in bright sunlight.

reply to post by Uncinus


Possibly but the "jets" emit out of the top of the clouds, some of these clouds touch the upper reaches of the atmosphere which is why you get the anvil look (and wind sheer). Some cumulonimbus clouds can reach heights of 20km's

But the blue jets are just excitations of charged particles. You can only see them at night, and the sunlight will not reflect off them any more than it reflects off a candle flame.

Originally posted by waynos
reply to post by yamother44

 

Well, straight after viewing the video but before reading any other replies, it looks to me exactly like there was some water on the sunroof of the car and the distortion was caused by the camera moving slightly while filming through it and refracting the light.

On second viewing it looks like what I would expect to see if someone set up a water dropper to make sure a tiny amount of water was dripped in the same spot while filming from below. The effect is on the glass, not in the sky.

No dropper is visible, so the effect may have been achieved in a slightly different manner, it is definitely on the glass in my opinion. Maybe I'll give it a go myself

Maybe rewatch the video with this in mind and see what you think?

edit on 16-11-2011 by waynos because: Expanded thoughts

I disagree.


The source of this lightshow (circled above) lies behind the cloud and remains the epicenter
of the reflections(?) throughout the duration of the video clip. It is a stationary solid object and
not a natural (weather) phenomena, IMO.

Oops. The picture didn't come out right. Can anyone tell me how to post a capture of just the
video still shot?

If you have a photo editing prog on your computer you should be able to crop the screen grab before posting?

But it's ok, its clear enough. Reading the other replies since I posted has given me pause for thought, and I admit I am struggling to see how, if it was water, the 'change' always happens on the same spot. I admit, I don't even know if it WAS shot through glass.

It's just that, while sat waiting for my wife to come out of work when I pick her up, I've seen an effect that looks exactly the same whilst looking up through my sunroof when it's started to rain. Naturally the drops are never in the same place but the actual effect is so uncannily close that I can't help think it is somehow linked.

On the other hand sun dogs are not something I have ever witnessed so have nothing there to compare it to. I remain open minded but unconvinced I'm afraid. But looking I to it is interesting all the same.

Does anyone know of other videos of this phenomenon or one that shares the similar characteristics and speed of movement (whether it be the cloud or light)? Here is another video of posted by the account.

There are video at the links I gave earlier:

blogs.discovermagazine.com...
amasci.com...

I never saw anything like this before. But the first thing I noticed was that there was a thunderhead (cumulonimbus) cloud right there. So like it was mentioned before, it probably has something to do with the electric fields from the lightning and the ice crystals. Really cool find!

Just goes to show Mother Nature can still surprise the hell out of us.

ok i'm no meteorologist but when i did my chemistry HND we played around with water in a cooled vacuum chamber to see it 'jump' around at the triple point. All substances have a prefered state at a given temperature and pressure, the state being solid liquid or gas. With water it becomes interesting if you reduce the pressue to less than about 8mb and keep the temperature around -30°C. Under these conditions the water vapour is on or near the phase boundary for solid/gas, so by slightly increasing the pressure in the chamber and then reducing it again we saw a cloudy mist of micro ice crystals (solid) appear, and dissapear (gas). Get the pressure just right and you get it to 'jump' from one state to another.

Anyway thats in a lab, so i maybe wrong but i can see this sort of thing occuring at high altitudes where water is present and the temperature and pressure are near to the triple point.

reply to post by FLaKK


The triple point of water is at far too low a pressure (611.73 Pa) to be at the top of those clouds. You'd have to be at 100,000 feet.

reply to post by Uncinus


yeah i kinda thought the atmospheric pressure wouldn't be that low at the top of those clouds, oh well....

reply to post by Uncinus


can they replicate it or prove their statement?

reply to post by kobewan69


Not easily , but you can't replicate a thunderstorm, or the sun, either - that does not mean you can't form a theory as to what is happening that fits with known physics.