Hurricane Nicole struck the Floridian coast previously this week. However, before landfall, this storm produced a unique meteorological phenomenon known as sprite lighting. These are discharges akin to lightning that happens above thunderstorms. These can occur at altitudes of up to 50 miles through the atmosphere. As Hurricane Nicole plowed into the Florida coast on November 8, photojournalists in Puerto Rico witnessed this bizarre and rare sight in the storm clouds known as sprite lightning.
As per Frankie Lucena, a photographer in Puerto Rico, this sprite emerged above one of the outer rings producing a lot of lightning. Even, by the way, the wind gusts [of the storm] are also the greatest spots to search for sprites, as Lucena mentioned in a
Video footage of a sprite over Tropical Storm Nicole. It was captured just east of Puerto Rico last night at 12:30 am. @DeborahTiempo @adamonzon @weatherchannel @vaisala @COweatherman @AMSAtmoElect @NOAAComms @spritacular @NASA @NWS @NWSSanJuan @ASIM_Payload #tropicalstormnicole pic.twitter.com/HXmkY9npoo
— Frankie Lucena (@frankie57pr) November 8, 2022
Caitano L. Silva, a physics professor at New Mexico Tech, describes sprites as large-scale, charging discharges that occur above thunderstorms. Sprites can be seen at altitudes of around 50 miles into the sky.
Discharges Underneath the Thunderstorms
They occur due to intense cloud-to-ground (CG) discharges underneath thunderstorms. These CG flashes emit a powerful electric field, which forms sprites at the lower ionosphere's border, dubbed the edge of space, as da Silva interpreted in an interview with Newsweek. Sprites are little yet massive, measuring 50 km [30 miles] in height and 50 km [30 miles] in width, roughly the size of a modest town. The bizarre, jellyfish-like patterns of sprites are caused by a particular mix of height, cloud electrical charge, and temperatures.
It should be noted that this altitude range is the coldest portion of the atmosphere, with temperatures as low as -120 degrees Celsius (-180 degrees Fahrenheit). In these hard and vertically fairly unequal conditions, the electric generating discharge reacts differently at different altitudes, finally forming a shape like this, as per József Bór, a lightning researcher at Hungary's Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science (ELKH EPSS).
Red sprites may be considered secondary lightning that appears after conventional but mighty lightning strokes, which can be looked at as the father lightning of the later emerging red sprite, adding to Bór's statement.
Before hitting Florida, Hurricane Nicole induced rare sprite lighting in Puerto Rico.
Rare Red Sprite Lighting
In a report from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), this occurrence occurs in the sky above our heads rather than in the water, and even after more than 30 years of recording, the underlying cause of red sprite flashes of lightning remains unclear.
The sprites' mystery stems not just from their uncommon presence but also their shape and absence in certain thunderstorms. NASA also admits that the strange light flashes in our earth's natural upper atmosphere resemble a huge jellyfish. Sprite lightning is peculiar in that it is rather chilly, according to the US space agency, and operates more like extended fluorescent light tubes than hot concentrated light bulbs.
Apart from sprite lightning, previous Tropical Cyclone & Hurricane Nicole left a trail of concrete and devastating meteorological events over the Southeast United States and the Bahamas, where it made landfall. CNN reported that Category 1 hurricane Nicole's most significant threat was its high winds, which generated life-threatening and damaging storm surges along the shoreline of Eastern Florida when beachfront houses were carried away by the storm.
RELATED ARTICLE: Frequent Raging, Violent Hurricanes May Cause Climate Change [Explainer]
Check out more news and information on Tropical Cyclones in Science Times.
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