Research Press Release
Nature Communications
December 13, 2023
A paper reports that it has been found that iron, nickel, atomic oxygen, and nitrogen may be the cause of the green glow of ghosts (a type of short-lived luminescent phenomenon) that occur in the mesosphere.Nature CommunicationsPublished in
Transient luminescence is a type of short-lived lightning that occurs in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, and occurs at higher altitudes than regular lightning. The most common types of transient luminescent phenomena include sprites, halos, elves, blue jets, and giant jets. Among these, the rare phenomenon of green light emission is called a mesospheric ghost, but the cause of the green light emission has not been determined. Excited atomic oxygen is thought to be the cause of the green color, but the metal species involved in green light emission has not yet been identified because spectroscopic observations (study of the color of light) have not been possible until now.
This time, in order to elucidate the chemical and dynamic properties of mesosphere ghosts, María Passas-Varo and colleagues undertook high-spectral-resolution spectroscopic observation research in Castelgari, Spain, in 2019, and investigated the wavelength range of visible light. performed spectroscopic measurements of mesosphere ghosts. For example, during a thunderstorm on September 21, 2019, jellyfish sprites, a type of short-lived luminescent phenomenon, were detected over the Mediterranean Sea, and an increase in brightness was observed during and after the sprites occurred. This indicates that a ghost exists above the jellyfish sprite. Metallic signatures were also detected, indicating that they were caused by meteor ablation when interplanetary dust particles enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speed. The study identified the main causes of the green emission (iron, nickel, atomic oxygen, and nitrogen), and also detected other colors of mesosphere ghosts, such as yellow and orange.
doi:10.1038/s41467-023-42892-1
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