Optically observations of sprites over southern Africa: The journey so far

Abstract

Sprites are the optical signatures of an electrical discharge in the mesosphere that are triggered by large lightning strikes associated with active convective thunderstorms. Since their discovery in the late 1980s, Sprite has been observed extensively around the world but much so less in Africa. This paper presents the results of the series of ground-based observations of sprites during the summer of 2015/2016, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 in South Africa. The occurrence of these events were compared to the lightning location and peak amplitudes determined from the lightning detection network operated by the South African Weather Service (SAWS.. The results show that the charge moment change associated with most of the events agree with the dialectic breakdown of the mesosphere. - Abstract as displayed in the - Abstract booklet. The presentation on the day may differ from the - Abstract.