flashes of light that occur above thunderstorms (thunderstorm) and that are associated with normal lightning in the thundercloud below.

The causes of both phenomena are not known. Red sprites tend to form almost instantaneously over a broad region between 40 and 90 km (about 25 to 55 miles) in altitude. This region spans most of the mesosphere, the region of the atmosphere between about 50 and 80 km (30 and 50 miles) in altitude and which overlaps much of the ionospheric D region (between 70 and 90 km, or approximately 40 and 55 miles in altitude). Red sprites have a reddish colour on low-light television records, and blue tendrils have been observed trailing beneath them. Blue jets propagate out of the tops of thunderclouds at surprisingly low velocities (roughly 100 km, or 60 miles, per second) in the form of narrow cones of light that are blue in colour. Both phenomena are the subject of active research.