Red Lightning: 15 Mysterious Phenomena - How Many Have You Seen?

13. Sprite Clusters: Celestial Fireworks Display

Advertisement

Sprite clusters are amazing collections of several simultaneous or fast consecutive sprite events. Covering vast swathes of the sky above thunderstorms, these brilliant explosions produce a natural fireworks show spanning hundreds of km. Usually in response to especially strong or widespread lightning activity in strong thunderstorm systems, Sprite clusters arise. The different size, form, and brightness of the individual sprites within a cluster produce a varied and very beautiful range of red lightning events. Sprite clusters offer researchers a chance to investigate the broad consequences of upper atmospheric electrical discharges, therefore they pique especially their curiosity. Sprite spatial and temporal distribution inside a cluster can provide information on the underlying electrical structure of the thunderstorm system and electromagnetic pulse transmission throughout the top atmosphere.