For the first time, scientists have redirected lightning using a laser beam. And that’s just the start of what’s possible.
electricity
Posted inOpinions
Converging Toward Solutions to Grand Challenges
A hypothetical, space weather–induced power grid catastrophe served as a practice case for building unity and collaborative skills among disparate communities to address a major global hazard.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Radar Diagnosis of the Thundercloud Electron Accelerator
Altitude-resolved S-band radar observations of graupel are used to decipher thunderstorm ground enhancements in surface electric field and gamma ray flux.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lightning Had Difficulty Forming in Early Earth’s Atmosphere
Lightning could have sparked the beginnings of life, but the primordial atmosphere might have made it more difficult for lightning to initiate.
Posted inNews
Extracting Rare Earth Elements from Waste with a Flash of Heat
A method called flash Joule heating could offer a more sustainable way to source essential components of electronics from coal fly ash.
Posted inNews
The Bumpy Search for Liquid Water at the South Pole of Mars
Studies since 2018 have provided competing explanations of bright radar reflections from the base of the south polar ice cap.
Posted inAGU News
Nicoll Receives 2020 Atmospheric and Space Electricity Early Career Award
Keri Nicoll received the 2020 Atmospheric and Space Electricity Early Career Award at AGU’s virtual Fall Meeting 2020. The award recognizes “significant contributions to atmospheric and space electricity science from honorees within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D. degree.”
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Martian Dust Activities Induce Electrochemistry
Amorphous materials generated from sulfur and chloride salts by electrostatic discharge in a Mars chamber suggest widespread electrical processes during dust activities.
Posted inFeatures
Rayos Planetarios: Misma Física, Mundos Distantes
Un rayo en el planeta Tierra necesita sólo algunos simples ingredientes para generar una chispa. Esos ingredientes existen en todo el sistema solar y más allá.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Is Space Weather Worse by the Sea?
A new simulation of space-weather driven geoelectric fields at the land/sea conductivity boundary shows how these fields are magnified by both coastal effects and inhomogeneous land conductivity.