“Sprites Dancing in the Dark Night”
by Wang Xin (China).
Location: Chongming District, Shanghai, China.
“As multiple thunderstorms raged around Shanghai, Xin traveled to the Chongming District and adopted a trial-and-error approach by setting up the camera and waiting. After a few hours, a “faint red figure” flashed in Xin’s eyes, and this remarkable image was captured. The elusive sprites only last a few milliseconds, so Xin used a four-second exposure to achieve this photo. Sprites occur due to electrical discharge, but unlike ordinary lightning, they occur well above cumulonimbus clouds, approximately 50 miles (80km) above the ground, in a layer of the atmosphere known as the mesosphere. Due to their fleeting nature, sprites are still not well understood, but they have been observed to occur after a strong, positive lightning bolt between the cloud and ground. The red color comes from changes in the energy of the electrons of nitrogen atoms high in the atmosphere.”
Weather Photographer of the Year
