Scientists don't know much about the mysterious and powerful electrical discharges that sometimes appear in the upper atmosphere during thunderstorms. The first photograph of such a phenomenon, known as sprites, pixies, elves or jets, and which occurs at an altitude of about 90 km above the earth's surface, was taken only in 1989.
Luckily for scientists interested in these thunderstorms, the International Space Station offers an excellent vantage point from about 400 km. Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, while in the station dome, took a number of photographs of rare thunderstorms.
It is actually quite difficult to catch fast flashes of electrical storms, given that the station is moving at a speed of 28,000 km / h and the duration of the flare is 20 milliseconds.
Mogensen succeeded. As the station passed over the Bay of Bengal, between India and Myanmar, the astronaut filmed a 160-second video of 245 blue flashes in the cloud formation. At the same time, Doppler radar at the Machilipatnam station in India tracked the storm from the ground.
Most of the discharges that have appeared in the upper atmosphere at altitudes between 18 km and 40 km have provided a new perspective on the electrical activity that occurs in the upper parts of tropical thunderstorms.
It should be noted that the discharges, most likely, play an essential role in the exchange of gases between the troposphere and stratosphere. In addition, sprites, which are colored red by nitrogen interacting with electricity, release relatively large amounts of various nitrogen oxides into the upper atmosphere.
Voronina Svetlana