Lightning has long fascinated scientists, but its exact triggers remain a mystery. Recent research led by Penn State’s Victor Pasko may finally have solved this puzzle. A groundbreaking study published in July 2025 found that powerful electric fields, electrons, and high-energy photons create the explosive energy behind lightning strikes.
The study bridges known scientific concepts, including X-rays, electric fields, and electron avalanches. It provides a detailed explanation of how these atmospheric events work together to create conditions for lightning. Researchers used mathematical modeling and field observations to simulate thunderstorm environments, gaining insights into complex processes that lead to lightning.
Strong Electric Fields are Key
Electric fields in thunderclouds accelerate electrons, causing them to collide with air molecules like nitrogen and oxygen. This collision produces X-rays, setting off a chain reaction of additional electrons. As these particles continue to accelerate, they emit high-energy photons, creating the stage for a lightning strike.
Pasko notes that their findings offer the first precise explanation for how lightning initiates in nature. The discovery answers lingering questions about how electric fields evolve into violent lightning displays. The team confirmed how collision of accelerated electrons with atmospheric molecules generates X-rays, a vital component of the lightning initiation process.
This breakthrough has implications beyond understanding lightning alone. It ties into broader understanding of atmospheric science and interactions between electric fields and cosmic rays, influencing lightning and related phenomena.
The Photoelectric Feedback Discharge model simulates precise conditions for lightning formation. Through detailed simulations, researchers replicated field observations, confirming accuracy of their findings. This provided significant insight into how high-energy X-rays initiate lightning and link to photoelectric events observed in the field.
TGFs: Gamma-Ray Flashes Shed New Light
Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) have long puzzled atmospheric physicists. The new research sheds light on why some TGFs occur without visible lightning strikes or typical radio bursts. Pasko explains that high-energy X-rays produced by relativistic electron avalanches generate seed electrons, rapidly amplifying these avalanches.
This runaway chain reaction can vary in strength, leading to detectable X-rays but often with weak optical and radio emissions. The phenomenon helps explain why some gamma-ray flashes emerge from regions within thunderclouds appearing optically dim and radio silent, despite high-energy particles.
Source: https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/07/lightning-discovery-electric-fields-x-rays