Blue jets and red sprites are short-lived electrical phenomena linked to thunderstorms, but they occur at different heights and look different. Blue jets shoot upward from the tops of storm clouds; red sprites appear much higher above storms as broad, branching flashes. Both belong to a family called transient luminous events. They are not ordinary lightning bolts travelling from a cloud all the way into space.
A blue jet rises from a storm cloud
Blue jets are narrow, upward-moving flashes that emerge from the top of a thundercloud and extend into the stratosphere. NOAA notes that blue jets are not simply cloud-to-ground lightning seen from above. [1]
Their brief lifetime and altitude make them difficult to observe from the ground. Cameras aboard aircraft and the International Space Station have helped scientists document these events.
A red sprite spreads above the storm
Sprites appear higher in the atmosphere, above powerful thunderstorm systems, and can spread into branching or jellyfish-like shapes. NASA describes sprites, blue jets and related flashes as transient luminous events caused by electrical activity associated with thunderstorms. [2]
Their red colour comes from the atmospheric gases emitting light under electrical excitation. A sprite may occur after a powerful lightning discharge below it, but it is a separate upper-atmosphere event.
Why they matter to atmospheric science
These flashes reveal that thunderstorms can influence regions well above the weather we experience at the surface. Instruments on the ISS and ground-based cameras help researchers learn how energy moves between storms and the upper atmosphere. [3]
Not every storm produces a visible jet or sprite, and images can make an event appear larger or brighter than it was to the eye. They are best understood as rare, rapid electrical events—not as a warning sign that a storm is about to hit a particular observer.
Sources and evidence
- NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory — Lightning types ↗
Definitions and differences among sprites, blue jets and other transient luminous events.
- NASA — Upper-atmosphere phenomena caused by thunderstorms ↗
Overview of transient luminous events above thunderstorms.
- NASA — Studying storms from the Space Station ↗
ISS observations of blue jets and sprites.
Sources consulted: 11 October 2026. Written with AI assistance and checked against the linked references; not independently reviewed by a subject specialist. Sources do not endorse this article. See our editorial policy.
Revision: Original explanatory article prepared from linked scientific and institutional sources; scope and uncertainty are stated in the text.