via Eurekalert.
Have you ever heard of—or even seen—red lightning? These are not animated characters but real atmospheric phenomena known as electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorms. Scientists refer to them as “red sprites”, named for their jellyfish-like appearance and vivid red flashes. Now, imagine witnessing these mesmerizing displays over the world’s highest mountain range—the Himalayas!
On the night of May 19, 2022, two Chinese astrophotographers, Angel An and Shuchang Dong, captured a spectacular display of over one hundred red sprites over the Himalayas. The observation site, located on the southern Tibetan Plateau near Pumoyongcuo Lake—one of the region’s three sacred lakes—revealed a breathtaking celestial event. Among the phenomena captured were dancing sprites, rare secondary jets, and the first-ever recorded case in Asia of green airglow at the base of the nighttime ionosphere, dubbed “ghost sprites”. This extraordinary event attracted global attention and was widely covered by major media outlets.
A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences by Professor Gaopeng Lu and his team at the University of Science and Technology of China sheds light on the driving force behind this grand “sprite fireworks”—lightning and thunderstorms.
“This event was truly remarkable,” said Professor Gaopeng Lu. “By analyzing the parent lightning discharges, we discovered that the sprites were triggered by high-peak current positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes within a massive mesoscale convective system. This suggests that thunderstorms in the Himalayan region have the potential to produce some of the most complex and intense upper-atmospheric electrical discharges on Earth.”
Lacking precise timestamps for detailed analysis, the research team developed an innovative method to synchronize video time using satellite trajectories and star field analysis. This innovative approach allowed them to determine the exact occurrence times of the sprites and link them to their parent lightning discharges. One of the anonymous reviewers praised the technique, highlighting its potential as a reliable timing tool for citizen scientists contributing to scientific observations.
Video link: https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1065103
The study revealed that the parent lightning discharges occurred within stratiform precipitation regions of a mesoscale convective complex stretching from the Ganges Plain to the southern foothills of the Tibetan Plateau. This event recorded the highest number of sprites during a single thunderstorm in South Asia, suggesting that thunderstorms in this region possess upper-atmospheric discharge capabilities comparable to those in the U.S. Great Plains and offshore European storms. Moreover, the findings indicate that these storms may generate even more complex discharge structures, potentially influencing atmospheric coupling processes with significant physical and chemical effects.
The devil you say, great, nice to get back to good science, even China has some.
Reminiscent of this tragic sudden storm in the high mountain region of China (2,200+ meter altitude), but it seems to exactly one year apart? Local goatherds saved several trekkers by guiding them into mountain caves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gansu_ultramarathon_disaster
“On 22 May 2021, 21 professional runners died from hypothermia out of the 172 competing in a government-run 100-kilometre (62 mi) trail running race[note 2] held in the Yellow River Stone Forest in Jingtai County, Gansu, China”
A poorly run race. Astonishing result. Ultramarathoning has become a thing in China over a very short time with mobs of people trying to prove themselves with little preparation. I got the feeling that’s what happened in that trail run. Running in shorts? Layers, anybody?
Would have been fun if a bunch of amateur radio operators were checking for sporadic E skip. There is quite a bit of correlation between T-storms on the Great Plains and good E-layer propagation.
re: “Would have been fun if a bunch of amateur radio operators were checking for sporadic E skip.”
Let me introduce you to the “Digital Ionogram DataBase” https://giro.uml.edu/didbase/There may be a site close area shown having the sprites: https://giro.uml.edu/ionoweb/
Notable, here in the US E-skip is usually denoted by reflectivity in the 80 to100 km region on an Ionogram.
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And also let me introduce the WSPR protocol (and there is an associated WSPR database where WSPR contacts including reported SNR values) are logged:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSPR_(amateur_radio_software)
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I have made use of both the DID Database site and the WSPR protocol, so I’m not making just an idle comment here. An affiliated mode to WSPR is FT8, but FT8’s intention and function is different from that of WSPR.
Video intro to WSPR:
Best red sprite images and clips I have seen.
The Electric Universe. Many Cave paintings have plasma figures all over the place. Maybe they saw things in the Sky we don’t know about. There must be a reason to live in an unhealthy cave/bunker.
Artists have been memorializing Sprites for millennia, in wall murals painted on freshly applied lime plaster. A painting done in this manner is usually referred to as a “Fresco,” but over the centuries, a special form of that word evolved specifically in the case of the depiction of Sprites: “Fresca.”
When I first discovered cloud lightning going up I was puzzled as to where the electrons went.
My conjectures were either (a) The Van Allen belt or (b) the magnetosphere.
I was never able to find a definitive answer.
Still, the wonders nature provides are astonishing.
re: “was puzzled as to where the electrons went”
If you’ve ever stood beneath an active thunderstorm with an electrometer capable of indicating Positive or Negative values of charge, it looks like one big shell game.
One stroke will drive the instrument negative, a brief interlude ensues followed by another lightning strike that may drive the reading quite positive … this would seem to be the case with cloud-to-cloud lightning which seems to be the predominate form of lightning (having read the literature and papers in previous years.)
If you are at all familiar with Ionospheric modes of radio propagation (MW up to and through SW bands) conductivity of the free electron form exists at altitudes above starting roughly at 80 km and extending upward from there to 500 km to 700 km. I would submit ‘charging’ of this volume occurs with the sprites and jets.
Quite possible.
I have seen spectacular cloud to cloud lightening, which led me to the conjecture that lightning is caused by static charge build up induced by solar electro magnetic waves interacting with water. Not the old school answer of wet air and friction with dry air.
So, I get to add to my conjectures, thanks to your insights, the the electrons eventually become EM waves, outbound.
I can also add that the ionosphere just holds them, but electrons in motion define current and current requires a circuit or static charge build up. It is an interesting physics puzzle for which I have not dug into.
re: “which led me to the conjecture that lightning is caused by static charge build up induced by solar electro magnetic waves interacting with water.”
Its pretty much the triboelectric effect (involving ice) doing the ‘charge separation’ trick (go back and review the glass rod and cat’s fur experiments), nada to do with ‘solar electro magnetic waves’ interacting with anything (otherwise you could demonstrate this in a lab!) AND we would have seen this phenom seen during clear-sky days with like fog burning off at the surface (I have seen none and measured NO electric fields on clear sky days.)
Note: Pay attention to the freeze line in precipitation-bearing cumulonimbus … convection much above the freeze line will show charge separation (due to triboelectric effect) and lightning results. Any time we have had a tropical storm move on shore in Texas the lightning activity has been minimal (this far north) while still delivering rain; the convection is just not occurring that far above the 0C deg freeze level in the associated rain-bearing cumulonimbus clouds.
Also note: The HEAVIER the precipitation in a north American T-storm over land the more intense / more frequent will be the lightning. Have observed this in my part of Texas time and time again (thanks to the NOAA NEXRAD WSR-88D radar network and various providers of near real-time radar imagery). Observation of the lightning is via LW and MW (long wave and medium wave or broadcast band) receivers, although I prefer the LW receiver for this tuned to around 250 kHz to 300 kHz. Very few ppl do simple observational experiments such as these, something amateur meteorologists with simple equipments could repeat and confirm for themselves.
From movie Pretty Poison:
“I’ve learned that people only pay attention to what they discover for themselves.”
-Dennis Pittin character in the movie “Pretty Poison”
An interesting paper in pdf form) summarizing the research on charge separation in thunderstorms is the following:
“Charge Separation Mechanisms in Clouds” Clive Saunders
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Janusz-Pudykiewicz/post/Why-does-lightning-occurIs-there-any-structure-property-justification-of-triboelectric-series/attachment/5dcd5a44cfe4a777d4f0bcb7/AS%3A825134088736772%401573738705596/download/charge+separation+clouds.pdf