Red sprites and blue jets are brief but powerful lightning-like flashes that appear 25 to 60 miles above thunderstorms. Professors Edgar Bering and James Benbrook are preparing to hunt down these flashes this summer.
Weather is a very important thing.
That means we don't know if the emissions are hazards to aircraft or spacecraft operations. Given the number of lives that this possibility could put at risk, we need to answer this question quite urgently. Other than their colors, scientists know very little about these atmospheric oddities, but Bering and Benbrook intend to rectify that situation. They will begin the hunt June 7 in Palestine, the home of the National Scientific Balloon Facility. While they hope to collect some good data at Palestine, the best thunderstorms are likely to be found later in the year farther north.