Transient luminous event
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Transient luminous events (TLE's) are mysterious electrical phenomena that occur above storm clouds.
There are several types of TLE's, the most common being the 'Sprite.' Sprites are flashes of bright red light that occur above storm systems. C-sprites is the name given to single verticle columns of red light. C-Sprites exhibiting tendrils are sometimes called carrot sprites.
Other types of TLE's include, Gnomes, Blue Jets, Blue Starters, and Elves. TLE's seem to occur near lightning both chronologicly and spacially. However, the nature of the relationship between TLE's and lightning is still unclear.
The current theory about TLE's is that they are similar to lightning, the basic difference being that they strike upwards and are conducted by the ionosphere, as opposed to striking downwards and conducted by the Earth.
TLE's also vary greatly in appearance from traditional lightning, ranging from bright red flashes of with yellow haloes to blue flames firing into the sky.
TLE's generally last anywhere from less than a millisecond to more than 2 seconds, making their documentation a challenge. The first TLE wasn’t captured on film until 1989. University of Minnesota researchers were waiting to record a rocket launch and pointed the camera at a distant thunderstorm. A TLE was later identified, appearing in only two frames of the film. Currently the number of videos documenting TLE's is estimated to be around 1000.
