Krakatoa puts on incredible display of volcanic lightning

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Rare volcanic lightning seen as Krakatau Volcano erupts

Raw video: Volcanic lightning spotted as ash and lava spewed from Indonesia's Krakatau Volcano.

Krakatoa. It’s a name you’ve probably heard before. It’s a volcano. And when it blew in 1883, it sent shockwaves around the globe. Now, it’s erupting again.

It’s not the beast it once was. But it is producing some rare effects.

A new mound of ash and lava has been steadily growing in the caldera left behind by the enormous explosion which killed some 36,000 people through its thermal flash and ensuing tsunamis.

It was so loud it was heard for thousands of kilometers. The effects of the gas and dust it pumped high into the atmosphere caused temperatures to drop around the world for years afterwards.

Anak Krakatoa junior has a lot of growing to do before it reaches that scale again. But, judging from the show it has been putting on, it has ambitions …

Vulcanologist Dr. Richard Roscoe has captured some extraordinary footage of the volcano hurling glowing rocks high into the sky.

But he also captured another, extraordinary volcanic act: creating its own lightning.

Bolts of electricity arc out from its ash clouds, throwing a brief blue flash over the red and black landscape.

It’s a phenomenon that has not been understood until recently.

It only happens when the right mix of ash, gas and super-hot lava bubble up from below the Earth’s surface.

Flowing lava rapidly cools, creating a significant difference in temperatures over a small area. Thick clouds of ash billow in the volcano’s plume — with the soot particles regularly thumbing into each other.

Putting the two together is an explosive mix.

The atoms that make up the ash cloud, in the violent heat, start bouncing electrons around. Eventually, it builds up enough of a charge that it must find a way to escape.

And cooler, low-charged air is conveniently nearby.

So the air itself spontaneously turns into a conductor. Then, in a flash, that charge expends itself — as a lightning strike.

Volcanologists say the particular chemistry that produces volcanic lightning has been observed some 150 times over the past few centuries.

This story originally appeared in news.com.au.