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Just wondering about this question has been popped into my head many times and as what I have seen in some volcanic activities that when a volcano erupts there's a lightning, & i don't know if there's really a storm but I do think volcanoes do attracted to lightning or it produces it's own?

Do volcanoes attracts to lightning?

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  • $\begingroup$ Volcanoes like mountains tend to be high ground which means you should expect them to attract lighting. $\endgroup$ – John Jul 23 '17 at 15:45
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Volcanic lightning was documented by one of the earliest American volcanologists, Frank A. Perret in the 1940s. However, there was not much, if any, study of the phenomena until recently. According to this article, the electric charge develops close to the ground where the plume gas thrust region at a few hundred meters above the crater rim, where the overpressure of the turbulent volcanic jets determines the electrification of particles generating a complex charge structure in the growing plume."

The abstract of another journal article indicates that additional lightning can be generated in the stratosphere, "Observations and volcanic plume modeling further suggest that electrical activity was enhanced both by ice formation in the ash clouds >10 km above sea level and development of a low-level charge layer from ground-hugging currents."

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Erupting volcanoes release ash. When ash particles collide, it can build a static charge. When that charge is released, there is lightning.

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    $\begingroup$ A dirty thunderstorm? $\endgroup$ – Katherine Jul 23 '17 at 21:22
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    $\begingroup$ When a volcano erupts it releases ash and also a charges which creates lightning? $\endgroup$ – Katherine Jul 23 '17 at 21:23

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