By: Brianna Zhang

In 2022, an underwater volcano erupted near Tonga. The volcano spit tons of ash into the atmosphere and started a tsunami as tall as the Statue of Liberty. The most amazing event came when the ash created lightning bolts higher than the clouds (about 20 to 30 kilometers in the air), which is surprising since most bolts only form in or below the clouds. Lightning is mostly formed in rainclouds, but it can be born in volcanos as well.

Alexa Van Eaton, a volcano scientist, guided a team that studied how high the lightning was. To discover its altitude, the team used a few pieces of information. First, they listened to radio waves. Then, they examined pictures of the eruption and infrared light from the flashes. All the research demonstrated that the lightning began more than 20 kilometers above sea level. All the scientists were startled by this result because most lightning never starts so far up in the sky. Eaton believes that the volcanic fumes in the air caused the pressure to become high enough that lightning could form in the air.

“In those eruption data, we’re seeing stuff that we’ve never seen before,” says Jeff Lapierre. He is an expert on volcanoes.

“This eruption has completely changed the way we think of how natural events can change the atmosphere,” Lapierre says. “It’s also changed the environment where we thought lightning could exist.