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Sprites or red sprites are large-scale electric discharges that occur in the mesosphere, high above thunderstorm clouds, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky. They are usually triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between an underlying thundercloud and the ground.
The atmosphere is a dynamic system, and the local conditions of turbulence, uplift, and other parameters give rise to many types of clouds. Various types of cloud occur frequently enough to have been categorized. Furthermore, some atmospheric processes can make the clouds organize in distinct patterns such as wave clouds or actinoform clouds ...
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning [1] and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. [2] Relatively weak thunderstorms are sometimes called thundershowers. [3] Thunderstorms occur in a type of cloud known as a cumulonimbus. [4]
1 Cloud-to-ground lightning during a thunderstorm. Toggle the table of contents. Wikipedia: Featured picture candidates/Cloud-to-ground lightning during a thunderstorm.
Representation of upper-atmospheric lightning and electrical-discharge phenomena Discovery image of a TLE on Jupiter by the NASA Juno probe. [1]Upper-atmospheric lightning and ionospheric lightning are terms sometimes used by researchers to refer to a family of short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena that occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds.
Lightning; this is a strong thunderstorm cloud and it is capable of producing bursts of cloud to ground and cloud to cloud lightning. Hail; hailstones may fall from this cloud if it is in a highly unstable environment (which favors a more vigorous storm updraft). Heavy rain; the cloud
The electric current of the return stroke averages 30 kiloamperes for a typical negative CG flash, often referred to as "negative CG" lightning. In some cases, a ground-to-cloud (GC) lightning flash may originate from a positively charged region on the ground below a storm.
Sheet lightning is cloud-to-cloud lightning that exhibits a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud, caused by the actual discharge path being hidden or too far away. The lightning itself cannot be seen by the spectator, so it appears as only a flash, or a sheet of light. The lightning may be too far away to discern individual flashes.