Though it’s one of nature’s most amazing shows, lightning appears in blue among other colours. Fifteen amazing blue lightning events occurring worldwide are investigated in this page. These electrifying wonders will astound you from the unusual blue jets blasting skyward from thunderclouds to the mesmerising blue sprites dancing in the top atmosphere. Explore the science underlying these events and learn about the special circumstances that produce these amazing blue light displays in the heavens.
1. Blue Jets: Nature’s Upward Lightning
Rising from the tops of thunderstorms into the stratosphere, blue jets are an intriguing and rather rare type of lightning. These blue bolts of light can reach heights of up to 50 kilometres above the surface of the Earth, unlike normal lightning striking downward. Blue jets, according to scientists, arise from a discharge generated at the top of a thundercloud releasing positive charge that travels upward.
These jets’ unique blue hue results from the interaction between nitrogen molecules in the high atmosphere and the electrical discharge. Nitrogen molecules are excited as the discharge moves upward and release blue light. Although this phenomena originally caught on camera in 1989, scientists started closely examining blue jets in the late 1990s.
Blue jets are difficult to see and investigate as they are so fast—just a fraction of a second. Pilots and astronauts have, however, reported seeing these amazing blue flashes from high altitudes, which offers important new perspectives on their occurrence and features.
2. Blue Sprites: Ethereal Dancers of the Upper Atmosphere
Another amazing kind of blue lightning seen far above thunderstorms are blue sprites. Usually found in the mesosphere, these ethereal, jellyfish-shaped flashes of light span 50 to 90 kilometres. Strong positive cloud-to- earth lightning strikes set sprites off unlike blue jets.
The blue hue of sprites comes from the electrical discharge exciting nitrogen molecules. Blue light is emitted as these molecules revert to their ground state. Often found in bunches and spanning many kilometres in diameter, sprites provide an amazing show in the nighttime heavens.
Fascinatingly, sprites were originally expected to exist in the 1920s, but they were unintentionally seen on camera only in 1989. Researchers have been working to solve the riddles of these enigmatic events by means of ground-based and space-based instrumentation since then.