Synopsis
Dr Helen Czerski examines the hottest natural phenomenon on the planet - lightning. High-speed cameras show the secrets of upward lightning that's triggered by urban landscapes.
- Programme: Dangerous Earth
- Episode: 03: Lightning
- Channel: BBC Four
- Broadcast year: 2016
- Geography
Licence: ERA Licence required
Free to watch for UK schools, colleges and universities with an ERA Licence
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Dangerous Earth
01: Avalanche | Dangerous Earth
01: Avalanche | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski looks at the anatomy of an avalanche. From shocking eyewitness footage from within an avalanche to detailed CT scans showing...
02: Volcano | Dangerous Earth
02: Volcano | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski looks at volcanoes. With shocking eyewitness footage of eruptions, and new thermal imagery and ultra high-speed photography, w...
04: Aurora | Dangerous Earth
04: Aurora | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski looks at the latest scientific insight into the aurora - dancing lights in the night sky that have fascinated cultures througho...
05: Tornado | Dangerous Earth
05: Tornado | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski peers into the heart of the storm to find out how advances in technology are giving new insight into tornadoes - the fastest w...
06: Iceberg | Dangerous Earth
06: Iceberg | Dangerous Earth
The latest scientific insights into icebergs, from side-scanning sonar scrutinising the edge of glaciers to pictures that give us a unique glim...
Climate change and ice loss | Dangerous Earth
Climate change and ice loss | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski explains the impact that climate change is having on ice melting and sea levels rising.
Effusive and Explosive eruptions | Dangerous Earth
Effusive and Explosive eruptions | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski demonstrates the differences between effusive and explosive eruptions.
Eyjafjallajökull ash | Dangerous Earth
Eyjafjallajökull ash | Dangerous Earth
Faraday cage | Dangerous Earth
Faraday cage | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski explains how planes are protected from lightning.
Glacier submarine melting | Dangerous Earth
Glacier submarine melting | Dangerous Earth
How glacier submarine melting is causing more icebergs to separate.
Iceberg B-31 | Dangerous Earth
Iceberg B-31 | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski explores how Iceberg B-31 separated from the Pine Island Glacier.
Iceberg colour and shape | Dangerous Earth
Iceberg colour and shape | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski explains why icebergs are white.
Iceberg sediment | Dangerous Earth
Iceberg sediment | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski discusses the important properties of the sediment contained in icebergs.
Lightning slowed down | Dangerous Earth
Lightning slowed down | Dangerous Earth
Meteorologist Tom Warner films lightning at up to 100,000 frames per second.
Microburst | Dangerous Earth
Microburst | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski explains the final stage in the creation of a tornado.
Mount Nyiragongo lava | Dangerous Earth
Mount Nyiragongo lava | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski investigates the distinctive qualities of the lava from Mount Nyiragongo.
Phreatic eruption - Mount Ontake | Dangerous Earth
Phreatic eruption - Mount Ontake | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski examines the 2014 phreatic eruption of Mount Ontake, Japan and why it was hard to predict.
Rhyolite eruption - Puyehue-Cordón Caulle | Dangerous Earth
Rhyolite eruption - Puyehue-Cordón Caulle | Dangerous Earth
Supercell | Dangerous Earth
Supercell | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski discusses the particular weather conditions that produce a supercell thunderstorm.
The threat of icebergs | Dangerous Earth
The threat of icebergs | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski explains how icebergs float and what makes them so dangerous.
More resources about Extreme weather events
2020 | Britain's Wildest Weather
2020 | Britain's Wildest Weather
Footage of the most extreme weather conditions in the UK over the past year, from the worst floods in a decade and a freak landslide in Fife...
Britain's Wild Weather | Panorama
Britain's Wild Weather | Panorama
Justin Rowlatt visits communities around Britain battered by this year's extreme weather - unprecedented rainfall, sunshine and sustained h...
Hurricane Melissa: The Storm That Hit Jamaica | BBC News
Hurricane Melissa: The Storm That Hit Jamaica | BBC News
One of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record made landfall in Jamaica with 185mph winds. Category 5 Hurrica...
The Year Britain Flooded
The Year Britain Flooded
It was England's wettest year since records began; this documentary explores why 2012's relentless floods happened and tells the personal stories of...
Somerset: After the Floods
Somerset: After the Floods
The Somerset Levels faced a natural disaster in the winter of 2013. The village of Moorland was entirely engulfed by the floods. This follows thos...
Coastal erosion | Panorama
Coastal erosion | Panorama
The erosion of the coastline and destruction of homes by storms.
Typhoon Haiyan | Review
Typhoon Haiyan | Review
Features the chaos and suffering caused by Typhoon Haiyan.
Storms | Britain's Most Extreme Weather
Storms | Britain's Most Extreme Weather
From the tidal surges that flooded North Sea coasts and the hurricane force winds that battered our western shores. Further back we r...
05: Tornado | Dangerous Earth
05: Tornado | Dangerous Earth
Dr Helen Czerski peers into the heart of the storm to find out how advances in technology are giving new insight into tornadoes - the fastest w...
Episode 1 | Wildfires 2014: Inside the Inferno
Episode 1 | Wildfires 2014: Inside the Inferno
Kate Humble and Simon Reeve investigate Australia's worst wildfire season in a decade. They explore why wildfires in Australia...
Prisoners of Katrina | This World
Prisoners of Katrina | This World
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while thousands fled New Orleans, the city's prisoners were trapped. Fresh eye-witness accounts reve...
02: Deluge | Wonders of the Monsoon
02: Deluge | Wonders of the Monsoon
From India to Thailand and Cambodia, the Asian monsoon makes its grand entrance, the bringer of life and the destroyer.
Typhoon Haiyan aftermath | BBC News at One
Typhoon Haiyan aftermath | BBC News at One
Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Coastal Erosion and Storm Surges | Britain's Wildest Weather
Coastal Erosion and Storm Surges | Britain's Wildest Weather
New sandscaped coastal defences were built to protect the low-lying village of Walcott from flooding, but how di...
Surviving The Typhoon | Newsround Specials
Surviving The Typhoon | Newsround Specials
Newsround's Leah Gooding travels to the Philippines to see how children are coping following Typhoon Haiyan. Speaking to kids who ...
Coastal erosion at Hallsands causes and effects | Coast
Coastal erosion at Hallsands causes and effects | Coast
An exploration of a coastal village that was completely destroyed by a storm.
01: Waiting for the Rains | Wonders of the Monsoon
01: Waiting for the Rains | Wonders of the Monsoon
From India to Australia, all life awaits the transforming power of the monsoon rains.
Episode 2 | Wildfires 2014: Inside the Inferno
Episode 2 | Wildfires 2014: Inside the Inferno
Kate Humble and Simon Reeve investigate Australia's worst wildfire season in a decade. Simon and Kate explore why wind is such...
The Day California Burned
The Day California Burned
The chilling account of the 2018 megafire that swept through northern California, containing moving interviews with the firemen, police and survivo...
Typhoon Haiyan: a year on | BBC News at One
Typhoon Haiyan: a year on | BBC News at One
Twelve months ago Typhoon Haiyan tore across the Philippines with its brutal winds and storm surges leaving more than 7,000 peopl...
More from Helen Czerski
Global energy, climate change and oceans | Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
Global energy, climate change and oceans | Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
Dr Helen Czerski demonstrates how climate change is impacting the ocean.
Chladni experiment | Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics
Chladni experiment | Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics
Dr Helen Czerski investigates the science behind the sounds and how Chladni used sand to see the shape of sound vib...
Rhyolite eruption - Puyehue-Cordón Caulle | Dangerous Earth
Rhyolite eruption - Puyehue-Cordón Caulle | Dangerous Earth
Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey | Learning Zone
Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey | Learning Zone
Kate Humble and Dr Helen Czerski follow the Earth's voyage around the sun for one complete orbit, to witness the astonis...
Episode 1 | Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey
Episode 1 | Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey
Kate Humble and Dr Helen Czerski follow the Earth's voyage around the sun for one complete orbit, travelling first from July...