To do this, a well-designed ground system will be a better investment than cluttering up the top of your tower. According to Principal Investigators Davis Sentman and Eugene Wescott, professors at the Geophysical Institute with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, the unusual flashes occurred over thunderstorms in the Midwest between June 28 and July 12,1994. Some of the flashes extend up through the ozone layer into the base of the ionosphere, the region of the upper atmosphere where auroras occur. In replicating the study this summer, the researchers were able to accurately measure the position and altitude of the flashes and to examine their color and speed. They also identified two distinctly different flashes, which they named sprites and blue jets.
Sprites are blood red flashes that appear with bluish tendrils dangling from the bottom of some.
The flashes, which last only a few thousandths of a second, extend from above storm clouds up to about 60 miles high, reaching the bottom of the ionosphere. Recorded radio noise coincided with the sprite flashes. The sprites were recorded on a TV spectrograph and will be analyzed to determine their atomic and molecular source. Since they are associated with thunderstorms and lightning, scientists suspect the flashes may be a form of electrical discharge. If so, they could present a concern to high-altitude research aircraft and could be responsible for creating a host of chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere, including modifications of upper atmosphere ozone.