20-04-2012, 05:08 PM
Sprites, Blue Jets, and Elves
[attachment=20481]
What Are They
Sprites, Blue Jets and Elves are upper-atmospheric lightning recently discovered in 1995.
They are formed when the electric field of thunderstorms generates ambient electrons, causing them to impact one another and create optical emissions only visible from 100s of miles away.
Sprites
These form at ~70km altitude and move both upward and downward from their origination point.
Sprites usually occur during the dying stages of a thunderstorm, and are frequent with large cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.
Although Sprites have a weak electromagnetic emission, they can reach up to 100km tall, sometimes breaking the ozone barrier.
Elves
E.l.v.e.s stands for Emissions of Light and VLF perturbations due to EMP Sources (Fukunishi et al., 1995).
These generally occur above thunderstorms, both in conjunction with sprites and alone.
At an altitude of 75-95km, they are located higher than sprites, and can span horizontally as much as 530km (Heavener, Matthew 2000)
[attachment=20481]
What Are They
Sprites, Blue Jets and Elves are upper-atmospheric lightning recently discovered in 1995.
They are formed when the electric field of thunderstorms generates ambient electrons, causing them to impact one another and create optical emissions only visible from 100s of miles away.
Sprites
These form at ~70km altitude and move both upward and downward from their origination point.
Sprites usually occur during the dying stages of a thunderstorm, and are frequent with large cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.
Although Sprites have a weak electromagnetic emission, they can reach up to 100km tall, sometimes breaking the ozone barrier.
Elves
E.l.v.e.s stands for Emissions of Light and VLF perturbations due to EMP Sources (Fukunishi et al., 1995).
These generally occur above thunderstorms, both in conjunction with sprites and alone.
At an altitude of 75-95km, they are located higher than sprites, and can span horizontally as much as 530km (Heavener, Matthew 2000)