(meteorobs) Green fireball - ball lightning link?

[Thomas Ashcraft]

Of possible interest:



http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38939/


    Abstract

This paper presents evidence of an apparent connection between ball 
lightning and a green fireball. On the evening of the 16th May 2006 at 
least three fireballs were seen by many people in the skies of 
Queensland, Australia. One of the fireballs was seen passing over the 
Great Divide about 120 km west of Brisbane, and soon after, a luminous 
green ball about 30 cm in diameter was seen rolling down the slope of 
the Great Divide. A detailed description given by a witness indicates 
that the phenomenon was probably a highly luminous form of ball 
lightning. An hypothesis presented in this paper is that the passage of 
the Queensland fireball meteor created an electrically conductive path 
between the ionosphere and ground, providing energy for the ball 
lightning phenomenon. A strong similarity is noted between the 
Queensland fireball and the Pasamonte fireball seen in New Mexico in 
1933. Both meteors exhibit a twist in the tail that could be explained 
by hydrodynamic forces. The possibility that multiple sightings of 
fireballs across South East Queensland were produced owing to fragments 
from comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 is discussed.