National Geographic Your Shot submitter Peter Vancoillie took the photograph from about 18 miles (30 kilometers) away from the volcanic lightning storm, which not "unlike a regular old thunderstorm," said Martin Uman, a lightning expert at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

The same ingredients are present: water droplets, ice, and possibly hail—all interacting with each other and with particles, in this case ash from the eruptions, to cause electrical charging, Uman said. (See pictures of the Iceland volcano's ash plume.)

The volcanic-lightning pictures are "really very sensational," Uman said. "Somebody ought to be up there with an HD movie camera—it's ready for the IMAX theater."