Red sprites and blue jets

Sprites are massive but weak luminous flashes that appear directly above an active thunderstorm system and are coincident with cloud-to-ground or intracloud lightning strokes. Their spatial structures range from small single or multiple vertically elongated spots, to spots with faint extrusions above and below, to bright groupings which extend from the cloud tops to altitudes up to about 95 km. Sprites are predominantly red. The brightest region lies in the altitude range 65-75 km, above which there is often a faint red glow or wispy structure that extends to about 90 km. Below the bright red region, blue tendril-like filamentary structures often extend downward to as low as 40 km. Sprites rarely appear singly, usually occurring in clusters of two, three or more. Some of the very large events, such as shown in Figure 1, seem to be tightly packed clusters of many individual sprites. Other events are more loosely packed and may extend across horizontal distances of 50 km or more and occupy atmospheric volumes in excess of 10,000 cubic km.

Blue jets are a second high altitude optical phenomenon, distinct from sprites, observed above thunderstorms using low light television systems. As their name implies, blue jets are optical ejections from the top of the electrically active core regions of thunderstorms. Following their emergence from the top of the thundercloud, they typically propagate upward in narrow cones of about 15 degrees full width at vertical speeds of roughly 100 km/s (Mach 300), fanning out and disappearing at heights of about 40-50 km. Their intensities are on the order of 800 kR near the base, decreasing to about 10 kR near the upper terminus. These correspond to an estimated optical energy of about 4 kJ, a total energy of about 30 MJ, and an energy density on the order of a few mJ/m^3. Blue jets are not aligned with the local magnetic field.


elf.gi.alaska.edu...


more pics and nice colour videos: wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov...


unfortunatly it's very difficult to get to see one...

cool things !

Great links. I've been reading about these for a few years now. Definitely very interesting stuff. It proves that we don't know everything.

Elves: The elve was first theoretically predicted by scientists at Stanford University in the early 1990s and then observationally confirmed by imagers on the Space Shuttle and the ground (by Tohoku University scientists) several years thereafter. The elve results from an especially powerful electromagnetic radiation pulse (EMP) that emanates from certain lightning discharges. As the energy passes upwards through the base of the ionosphere it causes the gases to briefly glow. Though as bright as a sprite, the elve only lasts for less than a thousandth of a second. This makes elves virtually impossible to see with the naked eye. They are most likely red in color, and if you could see them, they would look like giant expanding doughnuts. They occur at a height of around 60-65 miles, and can expand outward to several hundred miles in diameter.

also interesting site on the subject

www.sky-fire.tv...

You've got to respect the amount of energy that can produce that.

This is pretty groovy.Catching Lightning

It remembers me of the topic about a girl getting hit by lightning on her tongue-piercing,.. 'sssshocking'.

They should use the power of those lightnings to charge 1.000.000 carbatterys at once or something....