Anyone have actual footage of a single lightning stroke taking any amount of time to form? I've seen quite a bit of footage of multiple stroke lightning, and wondered from time to time myself whether the polarity of the strokes switched in consecutive strokes... I could explain it either way, I think.
I've seen footage of upper atmosphere lightning phenomena and sprites, for example, do seem to travel upwards from the top of thunder clouds.
Sprites
Main article: Upper-atmospheric lightning#Sprites
Sprites are now well-documented electrical discharges that occur high above some types of thunderstorms. They appear as luminous reddish-orange or greenish-blue, plasma-like flashes, last longer than normal lower stratospheric discharges (typically around 17 milliseconds), and are triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between the thundercloud and the ground.[31] Sprites often occur in clusters of two or more, and typically span the distance from 50 miles (80 km) to 90 miles (145 km) above the earth, with what appear to be tendrils hanging below, and branches reaching above. A 2007 paper reports that the apparent tendrils and branches of sprites are actually formed by bright streamer heads of less than 140 m diameter moving up or down at 1 to 10 percent of the speed of light.[44] The abstract is publicly accessible.[45][46][47]
Sprites may be horizontally displaced by up to 30 miles (48 km) from the location of the underlying lightning strike, with a time delay following the lightning that is typically a few milliseconds, but on rare occasions may be up to 100 milliseconds. Sprites are sometimes, but not always, preceded by a sprite halo, a broad, pancake-like region of transient optical emission centered at an altitude of about 47 miles (76 km) above lightning.[48] Sprite halos are produced by weak ionization from transient electric fields of the same type that causes sprites, but which are insufficiently intense to exceed the threshold needed for sprites. Sprites were first photographed on July 6, 1989 by scientists from the University of Minnesota. Several years after their discovery they were named after the mischievous sprite (air spirit) Puck in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Recent research carried out at the University of Houston in 2002 indicates that some normal (negative) lightning discharges produce a sprite halo, the precursor of a sprite, and that every lightning bolt between cloud and ground attempts to produce a sprite or a sprite halo.[citation needed] Research in 2004 by scientists from Tohoku University found that very low frequency emissions occur at the same time as the sprite, indicating that a discharge within the cloud may generate the sprites.[45]
[edit] Blue jets
Blue jets differ from sprites in that they project from the top of the cumulonimbus above a thunderstorm, typically in a narrow cone, to the lowest levels of the ionosphere 25 miles (40 km) to 30 miles (48 km) above the earth.[citation needed] They are also brighter than sprites and, as implied by their name, are blue in color. They were first recorded on October 21, 1989, on a video taken from the space shuttle as it passed over Australia, and subsequently extensively documented in 1994 during aircraft research flights by the University of Alaska.[49][50][47]
On September 14, 2001, scientists at the Arecibo Observatory photographed a huge jet double the height of those previously observed, reaching around 50 miles (80 km) into the atmosphere. The jet was located above a thunderstorm over the ocean, and lasted under a second. Lightning was initially observed traveling up at around 50,000 m/s in a similar way to a typical blue jet, but then divided in two and sped at 250,000 m/s to the ionosphere, where they spread out in a bright burst of light.[51] On July 22, 2002, five gigantic jets between 60 and 70 km (35 to 45 miles) in length were observed over the South China Sea from Taiwan, reported in Nature.[49] The jets lasted under a second, with shapes likened by the researchers to giant trees and carrots.[citation needed]
In 2001, the Arecibo scientists modeled the blue-jet phenomenon to better understand how it works. It is like an electron avalanche that can flood up toward the ionosphere or slide earthward, depending on the electric field direction. Intense hail may trigger the avalanche. The field accelerates the electrons and slams them into air molecules. The molecules break down into ions and free electrons and emit light. The newly generated electrons also accelerate.[50]
[edit] Elves
Elves often appear as a dim, flattened, expanding glow around 250 miles (402 km) in diameter that lasts for, typically, just one millisecond.[52] They occur in the ionosphere 60 miles (97 km) above the ground over thunderstorms. Their color was a puzzle for some time, but is now believed to be a red hue. Elves were first recorded on another shuttle mission, this time recorded off French Guiana on October 7, 1990. Elves is a frivolous acronym for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations From Electromagnetic Pulse Sources. This refers to the process by which the light is generated; the excitation of nitrogen molecules due to electron collisions (the electrons possibly having been energized by the electromagnetic pulse caused by a discharge from the Ionosphere).[47]
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow ... flash.html
Cheers!