Blue jet over Brazil
© YouTube/Bramon (screen capture)
A huge upper-atmospheric lightning event known as a blue jet was captured by a skywatcher during a thunderstorm over Taperoá in the state of Paraíba in the Nordeste of Brazil, on March 13th 2017.

Diego Rhamon captured the event using a PY-SH361 camera, a component of the CPV1 station, of BRAMON (Brazilian Meteorological Observation Network).

Upper-atmospheric lightning or 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. Upper-atmospheric lightning is believed to be electrically induced forms of luminous plasma.

The preferred usage is transient luminous event (TLE), because the various types of electrical-discharge phenomena in the upper atmosphere lack several characteristics of the more familiar tropospheric lightning. There are several types of TLEs, the most common being sprites.


According to a study published earlier this year by Denmark's National Space Institute as part of an experiment known as THOR, these "astonishing" jets reach up to 40km (25 miles) in height before fading.

Similar studies will be taking place later this year with the Atmosphere - Space Interactions Monitor launching with the aim of monitoring such "transient luminous events" on an ongoing basis.

Upper-atmospheric lightning
© WikipediaRepresentation of upper-atmospheric lightning and electrical-discharge phenomena
"The blue discharges and jets are examples of a little-understood part of our atmosphere," the European Space Agency said in a statement. "Electrical storms reach into the stratosphere and have implications for how our atmosphere protects us from radiation."