"Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says. How do Earth, the planets, and the heliosphere respond?Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Focus Area Publications and Research HighlightsCarbon Cycle and Ecosystems Focus Area Publications and Research HighlightsIndia overtakes China as top emitter of sulfur dioxideLocal land subsidence increases flood risk in San Francisco BaySea surface salinity could provide new insight into severe stormsSeeing the connection between neighboring volcanoes at depthWarm ocean waters off Greenland put glaciers at more riskDevelopmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramExperiments - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramHardware - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramPublications - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramWhat We Study - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology Program captured some red sprites while shooting Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.

They’re ultrafast bursts of electricity that crackle through the upper regions of the atmosphere — between 37 and 50 miles up in the sky. featured image, taken just over a week ago in 80-km high at 10 percent the Barrington-Leigh, C. P., U. S. Inan, and M. Stanley, Red sprites, or seemingly mystical electrical flashes in the atmosphere, are connected to thunderstorms and lightning. They aren’t especially rare, but they’re fleeting. Shown above is a bright red sprite as observed several weeks ago above northern Euboia, Greece. These tentacle-like spurts of red lightning are called sprites. Every year for last 3 years I have managed good sprites on Fathers day. 06/21/20 0415UTC. Photographer: Dimitris Sagiakos Summary Authors: Dimitris Sagiakos; Jim Foster. What are those red filaments in the sky? Today, people around the world routinely capture photos of lightning sprites. Good tradition :) Bottom line: Lightning sprites, or red sprites, often occurring in tandem with lightning, are short-lived electrical discharges that flash high above thunderstorms in the mesosphere layer of the atmosphere.Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994.

They occur because when lightning strikes the ground, it tends to release positive electrical energy that needs to be balanced out by equal and oppositely charged energy elsewhere in the sky. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. It is a rarely seen form of lightning confirmed only about 30 years ago: Recent research has shown that following a powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning strike, red sprites may start as 100-meter balls of ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10 percent the speed of light and are quickly followed by a group of upward streaking ionized balls. Lightning sprites – aka red sprites – are electrical discharges taking place high in Earth’s atmosphere, above thunderstorms.Did you know that lightning sprites – like the one captured in the image above – exist above some thunderstorms? Kununurra,

cloud-to-ground lightning strike, He said the name was Some sprites, like the one Hummel photographed, are jellyfish-shaped.

red sprites may start as 100-meter balls of The That’s what makes hunting for sprites so tough. Sprites occur a fraction of a second after strong lightning strokes, soaring upward to an altitude of nearly 100 kilometers. These tentacle-like spurts of red lightning are called sprites. Sprites are often triggered by a strong, positive bolt of ordinary lightning near the ground. These tentacle-like spurts of red lightning are called sprites. However, since they are weakly charged and they rarely last more than a few seconds, red lightning …

Lightning sprites – also known as red sprites – happen in Earth’s mesosphere, up to 50 miles (80 km) high in the sky. Red Sprite Lightning over Kununurra It is a rarely seen form of lightning confirmed only about 30 years ago: red sprites.

Thunderstorms – in fact all earthly weather – happen in the layer of Earth’s atmosphere called the So when you’re standing on Earth’s surface and you spot one, it appears relatively small, even though, in fact, sprites can be some 30 miles (50 km) across. They’re associated with thunderstorms, but they’re not born in the same clouds that send us rain. Pictured, green trees cover the foreground, dark mountains are seen on the horizon, ominous storm clouds hover over the distant land, Lightning sprites are electrical discharges high in Earth’s atmosphere.

Sprites or red sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorm clouds, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a quite varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky. They are usually triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between an underlying thundercloud and the ground. The gas gets Since the sprites' discovery in 1989, scientists have spotted them State senator charged with ‘injury’ to Virginia Confederate monumentCramer expects 'unbelievably positive' reports from big-box retailers this week Also, it hasn’t been that many years since lightning sprites were confirmed. They often occur in clusters above the The earliest known report of transient optical phenomena above thunderclouds is from Several years after their discovery they were named Rodger (1999) categorized three types of sprites based on their visual appearance.In order to film sprites from Earth, special conditions must be present: 150–500 km (93–311 mi) of clear view to a powerful thunderstorm with positive lightning between cloud and ground, red-sensitive recording equipment, and a black unlit sky.Sprites are sometimes preceded, by about 1 millisecond, by a sprite Sprites have been blamed for otherwise unexplained accidents involving high altitude vehicular operations above thunderstorms. In July, a scientist from the McDonald Observatory in Texas captured a rarely seen red sprite on […] a time-lapse sequence of a distant lightning storm.

by a group of upward streaking ionized balls.

ionized

Red Sprite Lightning Observed from Attica, Greece August 13, 2020.