(meteorobs) Superbolts

MEM mstreman53 at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 18 07:33:24 EDT 2011



In the what it is worth category:

This past spring I reported an extremely bright flash and a long, intense, rolling jolt of thunder following quickly after the flash. I also got reports as far as 30+ miles away of a bright flash quickly followed by an unusually intense, unusually long bang of thunder which made the house shake.  There were many potential causes which couldn't be ruled in or out as to what might cause such a widespread and intense flash-jolt.  There was a suspected mine subsidence 30 miles to my west around that time. There were many possibilities to consider, including the remote possibility that this could be connected to a fireball report over Delaware and Virginia that day.

I reasoned this was most likely a happenstance of multiple regional flashes that immediately preceding a mine subsidence. In the course of unrelated research, I happened upon a poorly understood weather phenomena documented by Nuclear Test Ban monitoring satellites-- which is colloquially know as a "super bolt".

The consensus at the time was that it was "just" lightening even when it did not answer the scenario very well.  No one brought up the existence of the super bolt--I myself, had never heard of such a phenomena but it has been documented by satellite and a search of the web discusses several events including one which did major damage to an entire town in coastal Canada.(i.e. Bell Island Boom--NOTE: overlook the EMP/HAARP/Telsa Weapon conspiracy hits that Google will suggest)  After reading about the characteristics of this phenomena, it could very well have been me and my colleagues over portions of eastern Pennsylvania experienced last spring.

The super bolt is longer lasting than a simple lightening discharge all-be-it 1/1000th of a second but it is significantly brighter. Enough to make satellite sensors mistake them for the flash of a nuclear explosion.

Some speculation has been suggested that:
"No single natural phenomenon is known to produce this signature, 
although there was speculation that the Velas could record exceptionally rare natural double events, such as a meteoroid strike triggering a lightning superbolt in the Earth's atmosphere, as may have occurred in the Vela Incident."

The Vela Incident was a "rapid double flash" detected by one or more of the then secret Vela satellites and early suspicion was a nuclear test by South Africa and/or Israel--(later discounted) and later suspected to be a super bolt confirming that a super bolt releases significantly more energy than your run-of-the-mill lightening bolt and normal thunder storm.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Incident>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_%28satellite%29>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Island#The_Bell_Island_boom>

This purpose of this follow-up is to add to the range of possibilities to be considered when non-typical fireball reports may come about in the future.  Before one jumps to discounting the existence of a "super bolt", be it remembered that the "sprite" was in the area of myth until confirmed in 1989 in a single photograph. Many thousands more have been photographed from the ISS.  Not only do we have Red Sprites but, Blue Jets, Gigantic Jets and Elves and other discharge events to ponder.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_%28lightning%29>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning>

  
Elton




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