Rare ‘Red Sprite’ Lightning Captured Off Taitung Coast

Taitung: A rare "red sprite" phenomenon-where red lightning flashes in the sky above a thunderstorm-was captured on video late Sunday, illuminating the sky off the Taitung coast. The upper-atmospheric lightning was recorded at around 10 p.m. by a real-time surveillance camera operated by the East Coast National Scenic Area Administration near Jinzun Fishing Harbor. According to Focus Taiwan, Yang Yi-ching, director of the Center for Earth System Science Research at National Taitung University, explained to reporters on Monday that "red sprites" are a type of electrical discharge occurring in Earth's middle and upper atmosphere. When storm clouds form at high altitudes, they build up a significant electrical charge that can be discharged toward areas of lower potential, such as the ground, other clouds, or the upper atmosphere. Yang elaborated that these discharges can include so-called blue jets above the tops of clouds and red sprites at higher altitudes. Sunday's event may have been a distinct type known as a "gigantic jet." Due to the strong atmospheric convection currents in Taiwan, such phenomena can be observed relatively "easily" during thunderstorms in the summer and fall.