Earth Science Picture of the Day
Photographer:
Bertrand Kulik;
Bertrand’s Web site Summary Authors:
Bertrand Kulik;
Jim Foster
The
Eiffel Tower is likely to be hit by
lightning during every
electrical storm that affects Paris. Of course, any pronounced object has an increased chance of being clobbered by a
cloud-to-ground lightning bolt. A bolt’s
electric field is enhanced by the object itself – the closer a building (or any
grounded object) is to the base of a
thunderstorm
the stronger its electric field. Standing 916 ft (279 m) tall and
hundreds of feet higher than any nearby structure, the Eiffel Tower is
one of the most prominent manmade objects on Earth. The top photo shows
lightning almost wrapping around the tower. During this rather weak
convective
storm, about the only lightning observed was in the vicinity of the
Eiffel Tower. In the bottom photo, taken a few minutes after the upper
photo, the storm has moved off but you’ll note
mammatus clouds near the top of the image.
Photo details:
Top - Camera Model: Canon EOS 7D; Lens: Sigma 17-70mm; Focal Length:
55mm; Aperture: f/16.0; Exposure Time: 0.033 s (1/30); ISO equiv: 100;
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows. Bottom - same except: Aperture:
f/18.2; Exposure Time: 0.031 s (1/32).
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