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Science 2 May 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5620, pp. 747 - 749
DOI: 10.1126/science.1083006
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Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE:
Enhanced: On Sprites and Their Exotic Kin

Torsten Neubert

Sprites--giant flashes of light illuminating the sky above thunderstorms--were discovered only 15 years ago. In his Perspective, Neubert reviews recent research into these and other electrical phenomena (such as "blue jets") in Earth's atmosphere. He highlights attempts to elucidate the physics of sprites and jets and their possible effect on the atmosphere. Whether they alter greenhouse gas concentrations in the stratosphere and mesosphere or modulate the atmospheric electric circuit remains to be shown.

The author is at the Danish Space Research Institute, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: neubert{at}dsri.dk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes Observed up to 20 MeV.
D. M. Smith, L. I. Lopez, R. P. Lin, and C. P. Barrington-Leigh (2005)
Science 307, 1085-1088
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)