The picture, titled Cosmic Fireworks, gained the Skyscapes class of the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the 12 months pageant, hosted through the Royal Observatory Greenwich. This breathtaking symbol no longer most effective showcases the awe-inspiring wonderful thing about sprite discharges but in addition sparks public passion in excessive climate phenomena and their clinical importance. Credit score: Angel An
Have you ever ever heard of—and even observed—pink lightning? Those don’t seem to be animated characters however actual atmospheric phenomena referred to as electric discharges that happen excessive above thunderstorms. Scientists seek advice from them as “pink sprites,” named for his or her jellyfish-like look and bright pink flashes. Now, consider witnessing those enchanting presentations over the sector’s perfect mountain vary—the Himalayas.
At the night time of Would possibly 19, 2022, two Chinese language astrophotographers, Angel An and Shuchang Dong, captured a impressive show of over 100 pink sprites over the Himalayas. The remark web page, situated at the southern Tibetan Plateau close to Pumoyongcuo Lake—probably the most area’s 3 sacred lakes—published a panoramic celestial tournament.
A few of the phenomena captured had been dancing sprites, uncommon secondary jets, and the first-ever recorded case in Asia of inexperienced airglow on the base of the middle of the night ionosphere, dubbed “ghost sprites.” This abnormal tournament attracted world consideration and used to be broadly coated through main media retailers.
A up to date find out about printed in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences through Professor Gaopeng Lu and his workforce on the College of Science and Generation of China sheds gentle on the motive force in the back of this grand “sprite fireworks”—lightning and thunderstorms.
Large Outbreak of Pink Sprites in South Asia Noticed from the Tibetan Plateau. Credit score: Angel An and Shuchang Dong
“This tournament used to be really outstanding,” stated Professor Gaopeng Lu. “Through inspecting the father or mother lightning discharges, we found out that the sprites had been precipitated through high-peak present certain cloud-to-ground lightning moves inside of a large mesoscale convective gadget. This implies that thunderstorms within the Himalayan area have the possible to supply one of the crucial most complicated and intense upper-atmospheric electric discharges on Earth.”
Missing exact timestamps for detailed research, the analysis workforce advanced an cutting edge strategy to synchronize video time the use of satellite tv for pc trajectories and celebrity box research. This cutting edge manner allowed them to resolve the precise incidence instances of the sprites and hyperlink them to their father or mother lightning discharges. Some of the nameless reviewers praised the methodology, highlighting its doable as a competent timing software for citizen scientists contributing to clinical observations.
The find out about published that the father or mother lightning discharges took place inside of stratiform precipitation areas of a mesoscale convective advanced stretching from the Ganges Simple to the southern foothills of the Tibetan Plateau. This tournament recorded the perfect choice of sprites all the way through a unmarried thunderstorm in South Asia, suggesting that thunderstorms on this area possess upper-atmospheric discharge functions similar to these within the U.S. Nice Plains and offshore Ecu storms.
Additionally, the findings point out that those storms would possibly generate much more advanced discharge buildings, probably influencing atmospheric coupling processes with vital bodily and chemical results.
Additional information:
Hailiang Huang et al, Large Outbreak of Pink Sprites in South Asia Noticed from the Tibetan Plateau, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s00376-024-4143-5
Supplied through
Chinese language Academy of Sciences
Quotation:
Unveiling the mysterious ‘pink sprite’ lightning moves over the Himalayas (2025, March 18)
retrieved 20 March 2025
from
This report is topic to copyright. Excluding any truthful dealing for the aim of personal find out about or analysis, no
section is also reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for info functions most effective.
