VIDEO: High-Speed Camera At Florida Tech Captures Amazing Lightning Flashes

By  //  June 3, 2016

SUPER-SLOW-MOTION FROM MAY STORMS

ABOVE VIDEO: Professor Ningyu Liu at the Geospace Physics Laboratory caught a beautiful lightning show from a recent storm. It’s recorded at 7,000 frames per second and the playback speed is 700 frames per second.

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA — Scientists at Florida Institute of Technology used a high-speed camera to capture amazing lighting flashes from a May thunderstorm about six miles from the university’s Melbourne campus.

The flashes were recorded at 7,000 frames per second, and the video has captivated viewers from around the world thanks to extensive media coverage including on BBC, in Popular Science’s Australia edition, and in The Washington Post.

The video was captured using a high-speed camera purchased with a $456,000 grant from the National Science Foundation obtained by Dr. Ningyu Liu, an associate professor in Florida Tech’s Geospace Physics Lab and the principal investigator for the project, and Dr. Hamid Rassoul, dean of Florida Tech’s College of Science and the project’s co-principal investigator.

Dr. Ningyu Liu
Dr. Ningyu Liu

The camera’s ultimate use will be as part of a spectrometer used to capture footage that will allow for the study of the dynamics and energetics of the upward electrical discharges from thunderstorms known as transient luminous events, or TLEs. Examples of TLEs include starters, jets and gigantic jets.

Findings from the research into TLEs may provide a clearer understanding of their formations, dynamics and evolutions. The camera, a Phantom v1210 from Vision Research, is the first piece of the spectrometer, and Drs. Liu and Rassoul will be adding additional components, including intensifier and prism systems, to it later this summer.

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Scientists at Florida Institute of Technology used a high-speed camera to capture amazing lighting flashes from a May thunderstorm about six miles from the university’s Melbourne campus. (Florida Tech image)
Scientists at Florida Institute of Technology used a high-speed camera to capture amazing lighting flashes from a May thunderstorm about six miles from the university’s Melbourne campus. (Florida Tech image)