Robert sent in the link https://phys.org/news/2025-03-unveiling-mysterious-red-sprite-lightning.html … by analysing the parent lightning discharges we discovered that the sprites were triggered by high peak current positive cloud to ground lightning within a massive mesoscale convective system. This suggests that thunderstorms in the Himalayas have the potential to produce some of the most complex and intense upper atmospheric electrical discharges on Earth. Robert commented – after watching the video of the sprites , he did not notice any sign of clouds. Not even lightning or a thunderstorm. The sky looked clean and pristine. He then had a look on Wikipedia and there it says the region of Tibet is remarkably dry. Long, freezing, but very dry winters and short, cool, but humid summers. Most of the rain falls in July and August. There is basically no rain in the winter months. Or, very little. He adds, not exactly tropical thunderstorm territory. Robert ends by saying it would be much simpler to envision the Earth and its environs are electrified. The Earth’s ionosphere, a somewhat leaky capacitor, in his view, are part of an environment that is much more electrical than meteorologists imagine. See also https://doi.org/10.1007/S00376-024-4143-5 ….
On March 20th https://spaceweather.com … also had a post on the same subject- but the research was a year earlier. Here we are told, new evodence suggests cosmic rays may spark lightning. Every second, 50 bolts of lightning zigzag over the Earth. In spite of years of resarch, science is unsure how the bolts are kick started into action. Electric fields in thunderstorms are often too weak to ignite a powerful discharge. Yet, they happen. A new study, back in 2021, may help to understand what is going on, we are told. The researchers come from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. It seems cosmic rays – presumably via the ionosphere, seem to play a role. Unfortunately, they also say the origins of the high energy cosmic rays was probably in supernovae. Is that a red herring? Or, various other violent events in the universe. Cosmic rays strike Earth’s atmosphere all the time – and lightning is also occurring all the time. Nevertheless, science research is gradually approaching a more electrified position.
The original link popped up in a post at https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/19/interesting-unveiling-the-mysterious-sprite-fireworks-over-the-himalayas/ … where we learn that back in May 2022, two Chinese astrophotographers, captured images of over a hundred red sprites over the Himalayas. Observations were made on the Tibetan Plateau. Notably, near a sacred lake . It led to the study published by the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences by a Chinese university team. The video can be seen at https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1065103 …