Sprites generated by the hurricane "Harvey"

Before the start of the hurricane season in the Atlantic just over a month. Frankie Lucena, head of the private Observatory on the island of Puerto Rico, waiting for the coming of the storms with fear and thrilling anticipation. Hurricane "Maria", which hit the region last season, caused catastrophic destruction. However, during storms in the sky, you can see the sprites and gigantic jets.

"Tropical storm "Harvey", and later developed into a hurricane, was the most prolific high-altitude lightning," recalls Lucena. Here are four of the electrical discharge, which he captured, when the storm was raging to the South of Puerto Rico on 19 August 2017.

"Transient luminous events (Transient Luminous Events (TLE)) occurred within hours and was well located. The lightning, which is in the left corner is a sprite and the rest of the giant jets," explained the author of the image.

Scientists have not yet figured out how storms produce sprites and jets, because the data about these phenomena are not easy to obtain. After the hurricane "Maria" de-energize Puerto Rico Lucena continued to work, turning on the camera using the gasoline generator and battery backup. This season he hopes that the hurricane would spare their electricity, but lightning will be equally bright.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»