Researchers are beginning to unravel the science of red sprites. No, not a supernatural spirit that leaps around fairy tales, but a rare burst of red lightning that flickers and flows through the atmosphere of an upper-upper.
Gripping over 90 red sprite timings, linking over 60 of them to specific strokes of parent lightning, the study It reveals that in 2022, one of South Asia’s largest sprite fireworks shows was born in a flock of thunderstorms above the Himalayas.
It shows that there is South Asia We’ve seen some of the world’s most incredible shows, similar to those seen in the Great Plains in the US and in the Great Plains along the European coast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puy1dnyc6fg
Studying the Red Sprite
First reported in 1886 Red sprites are rare atmospheric phenomena that occur in an upper atmosphere over a thunderstorm. Flashing through the sky, these red sprites, or red lightning, occur when a sudden flow of electricity passes. Mesosphereabout 30 to 50 miles of the Earth.
On May 19, 2022, the pair’s photographers Angeluan and Shuchandong filmed footage of a series of over 100 red sprites on top of the Himalayas in South Asia’s South Tibetan Plateau.
On behalf of the biggest show of red lightning ever seen in South Asia, Sprite has attracted attention all over the world. They caught the eye of researchers and encouraged recent research. Advances in atmospheric science.
In light of the origins of these Himalayan “fireworks,” this study shows that the flashes captured in the 2022 footage came from a large-scale system of thunderstorms known as the mesoscale convection complex. Similar systems can be found along the Great Plains of the United States and the coasts of Europe.
read more: Lightning’s Strange Physics is Still a Stump Scientist
Shedding light on the red lightning
Turning to the trajectories of satellite movement and the field of stars, the research authors set out to find the flash of red sprites without a scientific time stamp. We identified the exact timing of over 90 sprites, identified specific sources or parent flashes of over 60 sprites, and analyzed May 22 footage without the scientific timing information normally required for formal atmospheric analysis.
Their results revealed that red sprites occurred within the layered regions of mesoscale convection complexes, a wide area of rain. It was also revealed that “ghosts,” or strange green glow, and other atmospheric phenomena were seen in red fireworks, not the only lightning bolts of lightning that appear within this wide area.
“The event was truly amazing,” said Gaopeng Lu, senior author of the study and professor of Earth and Space Science at the University of Science and Technology, China. press release. “This suggests that thunderstorms in the Himalayas could produce some of the most complex and intense electrical discharges of large atmosp extensions on the planet.”
According to the study authors, their technology could make footage from citizen scientists a much more reliable resource for further atmospheric research, allowing researchers to study similar red sprite videos in the future. Additionally, the application is not exclusive to red sprites, and footage of all kinds of atmospheric phenomena presents the possibility of future analysis.
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Sam Walters is a journalist covering evolution for archaeology, paleontology, ecology and discovery, and has an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
