A flash, and then – something else. Above the storm, a crimson silhouette appears and disappears.
If you’ve seen it, you’re a lucky witness to a sprite, one of the least understood electrical phenomena in Earth’s upper atmosphere. But if you took a photo of it, your photo could contribute to a groundbreaking scientific discovery.
NASA’s newest citizen science project, Spritacular (pronounced sprite-tacular), harnesses the power of crowdsourcing to advance the study of sprites and other transient light events, or TLEs. TLEs include a range of electrical phenomena that occur above thunderstorms and produce brief flashes of light. The new citizen science project aims to connect professional scientists with members of the public who want their camera work to contribute to scientific studies.
“People capture wonderful images of sprites, but they are sporadically shared on the Internet and most of the scientific community is unaware of these captures,” said Dr. Burcu Kosar, space physicist at Goddard Space Flight Center in NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland and Spiritual Principal Investigator. “Spritacular will fill this gap by creating the first crowdsourced database of sprites and other TLEs that is accessible and readily available for scientific research.
The sprites occur at about 80 kilometers altitude, above thunderstorms. They appear moments after a lightning strike – a sudden reddish flash that can take on a variety of forms, often combining diffuse plumes and shiny, spiny tendrils. Some sprites tend to dance above storms, turning on and off one after another. Many questions about how and why they form remain unanswered.
A red sprite (indicated by a white arrow) above a thunderstorm was captured by Expedition 44 crew members aboard the International Space Station on August 10, 2015. Credits: NASA
Eyewitness reports of strange flashes of light above thunderstorms date back hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until 1989 that the first such event was filmed. University of Minnesota researchers were testing a low-light television camera for an upcoming rocket flight mission. By sheer accident, their camera captured the very first credible evidence of what we now call sprites.
“It wasn’t a very high resolution or fast camera – they just captured two bright spots above a nearby thunderstorm,” Kosar said. “The whole pitch was thrown because a camera was pointed in the right direction at the right time.”
Scientists have dubbed these elusive events “pixies”, a reference to the mythical fairy-like creatures of European folklore. As other types of TLE were discovered, the playful naming convention remained. Today, scientists are studying ELVES, Halos, Blue Jets, Gigantic Jets, and more.
Yet, we still have too few sightings of sprites and other TLEs, and there’s a lot we don’t know. Some of the major outstanding issues include:
- How often do sprites appear? Why do they take the forms they do?
- What conditions in the upper atmosphere trigger sprite initiation?
- How do sprites affect the Earth’s overall electrical circuit and what is their contribution to the energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere?
- How are the sprites connected to gravity waves, which send wind-driven ripples of energy through our upper atmosphere?
Answering these questions could lead to major advances in the science of Earth’s upper atmosphere. But to get there, Spritacular needs your help!
Become a Spiritual Citizen Scientist
The first goal of Spritacular is to build an image database: a collection of sightings of sprites and other TLEs that will help answer the above questions.
Many commercially available DSLR cameras are suitable for capturing sprites. The hardest part is knowing when and where to look. By bringing together experienced “sprite hunters” and providing educational support and resources, Spritacular aims to provide all the guidance you need for successful sprite hunting.
If you think you captured a photo of a sprite or other TLEs, you can create an account and then submit your photos and photo details (time and location of photo) to Spritacular. Specific time and location details are preferred, but approximate time and location will also be accepted with sufficient detail. To submit a photo, you must be the photographer who took it.
All submitted photos will be reviewed by scientists. Bidders who collaborate with scientists and whose image leads to a scientific study or discovery will be duly acknowledged or listed as co-authors on the resulting scientific publication, depending on the level of contribution.
The larger goal of Spritacular is to foster a mutual exchange between TLE observers and the scientific community and to inspire citizen scientists around the world to participate in the investigation of these elusive events. As the Spritacular community and image database grows, Kosar plans to implement new software tools to automatically cross-reference submissions with lightning and thunderstorm databases. These tools will allow users to analyze their own images and contribute to the scientific method.
Spritacular is a NASA-funded citizen science project in collaboration with the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The principal investigator is Dr. Burcu Kosar and the co-investigator is Dr. Jia Yue.
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