page_title: Volcanic lightning
section_title: Charging mechanisms
hierarchical_section_title: Volcanic lightning / Charging mechanisms
caption_attribution_description: English: Eruption and volcanic lightning of Mount Rinjani, Indonesia, 1994 Norsk nynorsk: Indonesia - Lombok: Mount Rinjani Utklipp for bruk på framsidebilete - Scanwiki
context_page_description: Volcanic lightning is an electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption, rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm. Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash, which generate static electricity within the volcanic plume, leading to the name dirty thunderstorm. Moist convection and ice formation also drive the eruption plume dynamics and can trigger volcanic lightning. But unlike ordinary thunderstorms, volcanic lightning can also occur before any ice crystals have formed in the ash cloud.
  The earliest recorded observations of volcanic lightning are from Pliny the Younger, describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, "There was a most intense darkness rendered more appalling by the fitful gleam of torches at intervals obscured by the transient blaze of lightning." The first studies of volcanic lightning were also conducted at Mount Vesuvius by Professor Palmieri who observed the eruptions of 1858, 1861, 1868, and 1872 from the Vesuvius Observatory. These eruptions often included lightning activity.
  A famous image of the phenomenon was photographed by Carlos Gutierrez and occurred in Chile above the Chaiten Volcano.
caption: 1994 eruption of Mount Rinjani
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