Mysterious red flashes appear above Almeria and Valencia
Something very unusual was caught on camera above Spain during the early hours of Thursday, September 10, when rare red […]
On Thursday, September 10, something unusual appeared above Spain's Mediterranean coast. Red flashes, known as red sprites, were captured on camera from the Almeria coast and Ayora in Valencia. These fleeting electrical events, which occur high in the Earth's atmosphere above powerful thunderstorms, were photographed by both observatories and storm chasers.
AEMET, Spain's meteorological agency, shared images from the Ayora observatory, while David Mancebo recorded the phenomenon from the Almeria coastline. Red sprites are large-scale electrical discharges produced at altitudes of 50 to 90 kilometres above the ground, far above normal lightning. They are brief, lasting only a few milliseconds, and can take on strange shapes, including branching structures that resemble giant jellyfish.
AEMET's analysis of the Valencia images found that powerful lightning over the Mediterranean triggered the sprites seen from Ayora. Storm chaser Mancebo recorded around 14 sprites from the Almeria coastline, some of which were seen above the Mediterranean as the storm system moved away.
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