Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

chunga1 -- here are a couple of things -- given that even plain old storm lightning is not fully understood (in particular the involvement of charges to/from deep in the earth itself all the way out to charges to/from the ionosphere), they're still working on volcanic lightning -- though it seems clear/obvious enough that the condensation/freezing of water, central to the process in thunderstorms, is also very much involved in the process in at least many of the electrically-active volcanic plumes:

Volcanic Lightning

Jan 31, 2005
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050131volcaniclightning.htm

Volcanic Lightning



http://volcaniclightning.tripod.com/volcanic.htm


http://www.plasmaresources.com/essential_eupc.html


http://www.zen24203.zen.co.uk/surtsey/erupt1.html

Volcanic lightning, very, very frightening
The violent electrical storms that break as a volcano erupts mystify scientists. David Adam reports on a new explanation for the explosive phenomena - and the surprising amount of water in magma
December 9 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2004/dec/09/science.research

Volcanic Lightning Sparked by "Dirty Thunderstorms," Study Finds
February 22, 2007
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070222-volcano-lightning.html

Erupting volcano crackles with low-energy lightning
23 February 2007
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11250-erupting-volcano-crackles-with-lowenergy-lightning.html

Langmuir Lab Researchers' Volcanic Lightning Study In Science
Feb. 26, 2007
http://www.nmt.edu/mainpage/news/2007/26feb01.html


http://io9.com/387860/when-volcanoes-spew-lightning