Unusual phenomenon observed in Mediterranean.
I live on the South East coast of Spain near to the sea. some weeks ago, at about 9pm, I was walking along the coastal pathway, enjoying the sight of a lightning display out at sea.
I live on the South East coast of Spain near to the sea. some weeks ago, at about 9pm, I was walking along the coastal pathway, enjoying the sight of a lightning display out at sea. The lightning strikes were coming at random intervals, spread over several miles. After stopping to enjoy this natural firework display, my attention was drawn to the fact that there were repeated lighning discharges at one point at sea. Thinking that there must be some explanation for this, I stayed to observe for about five minutes. This confirmed to me that the lightning discharge was always above the same point. Unable to explain this I returned home.
My apartment is on the 5th floor, overlooking the sea and I went out on the balcony to take another look. The lightning storm was still happening and I could see that while most strikes were at random points, there was stll a regular discharge at the position I had previously observed. Because of the height of my apartment, I was now looking down at the point of discharge. I observed that the electrical discharge seemed to slow down after striking. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw that there was a large hemisphere floating on the water and this was receiving the lighning bolts. As each bolt struck it seemed to slow down and flow over the sides of the dome. enabling me to see what looked like a giant bubble, also I could see water flowing down the sides, thrown up by the lightning strikes.
By measuring the object´s position against known landmarks, I estimated it´s position as about 4 kilometres offshore and roughly 100 metres in diameter. I deduced that what I was seeing was the top half of an energy field that was absorbing electrical energy from the lightning.
Can anyone offer an explanation for this? It was not a ship, had no riding lights. I checked the area with Google Earth and there are no man made objects there, just sea.
Hi.
Did it look somewhat
Hi.
Did it look somewhat like this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/allatsea/2085116/All-at-sea-Here-come-the-thunderstorms.html ?
Mauro,
No, it did not
Mauro,
No, it did not resemble that picture. I am familiar with seeing lightning strkes in this area of sea and know what they look like.
This was three dimensional and maintained it´s position despite being struck many times. The electrical discharges did not penetrate the globe but flowed over the sides, obviously being displaced by the globe. The fact that I observed this process indicated to me, that the electrical discharge was being slowed down. Also, I used my binoculars to get a better look and could see the globe still there between strikes. I have never seen lighning strike the same place every 2-3 minutes for a period of more than an hour until this.
Hi vicar bob, welcome to the
Hi vicar bob, welcome to the forum. This is an interesting post but it covers an area I have no experience with at all so I may not be much help.
The Stars are RIGHT!!
Cthulhu’s coming!!
Seriously though I can’t offer any kind of helpful explanation. That just sounds pretty gnarly; muast have been an impressive sight!
Could there have been some
Could there have been some small structure out to see that was pulling down the strikes like a lightning rod or something? One of those bells on a bouy perhaps? Thats the only natural reason I can think of for repeated strikes in the same place.
It sounds almost like one
It sounds almost like one end of a very large Van de Graaff generator.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Van_de_graaf_generator.svg/320px-Van_de_graaf_generator.svg.png
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