By: Jenna Zhang

In 2022, an underwater volcano erupted in the Pacific island nation of Tonga. It spouted water and ash high enough to touch space and created a tsunami about the same height as the Statue of Liberty. Recently, scientists discovered that it sparked the highest lightning ever seen.

The volcano plume sparked flickers of lightning that reached up to about 12 to 19 miles above sea level, which is in the stratosphere.

Lighting is formed in a volcanic eruption plume when ash, dust, and gas bump into each other. Static electricity forms as the ash, dust, and gas bump into each other. When enough electricity forms, lightning zips up through the plume.

Alexa Van Eaton is a volcano scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory. She led a team that studied how high the Tonga eruption lightning was.

To approximate the lightning’s height, the team looked at the radio waves created by the lightning, satellite images of the plume, and infrared light from the lightning flashes.

From these data, the team discovered that the lightning was more than 12 miles above sea level, which is abnormally high.

The study’s co-author, Jeff Lapierre, said, “We’re seeing stuff that we’ve never seen before.”

The Tonga volcano plume’s lightning has changed how people think lightning could exist and naturally occur.