Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

"on the other side of the mountain, there is a group of Smurfs on the other side of the sea." But do you know that in real life, there is really a group of "red elves" on the other side of the sky near the space? let's take a look at it.

"Red Elf" is a phenomenon of breakdown of air medium over thunderstorms in the middle and upper atmosphere. Its formation is caused by positive lightning between the clouds and the ground and is considered to be a positive streamer. This phenomenon is initially excited at a height of about 70 km and expands rapidly at a rate of about 10 km per second. Usually, it appears in the vicinity of space about 40 to 90 km from the ground, with a width of about 5 to 10 km, which is very large.

The form of red elves the red elves are like fireworks over thunderstorms, often showing a bifurcated structure. It shows an arc-shaped branch in the upper part and a tendril shape in the lower part. As the name implies, red elves usually show a reddish-orange hue, but sometimes they also have upward propagation ingredients and a more diffuse glow, giving the top a reddish halo effect.

However, when the red elf appears at a lower height, part of it may appear faint blue. In fact, from high to low, the color of red elves changes gradually from red to blue. This actually reflects the degree to which the atmospheric density at different heights suppresses the excited states of nitrogen molecules that produce red light.

Conditions for the formation of red elves the formation of red elves occurs under specific conditions. Its principle is realized by dielectric breakdown in the middle and upper atmosphere. Don't be frightened by these professional terms, it's actually very simple!

We can explain it through a simple illustration. The solid black lines represent the electric field curves needed by the air medium for breakdown, while the four thin lines represent the electric field changes of lightning of different intensities at different heights. When the intensity of lightning is strong enough, above a certain height, the air medium will break down, which leads to the discharge phenomenon in the middle and high levels, that is, the formation of red elves.

In short, the condition for the formation of red elves is that the lightning is strong enough to cause electric field breakdown at a specific height, which leads to the discharge phenomenon in the middle and upper atmosphere, that is, red elves.

Williams (2003) the reason why red elves are rare, however, we seem to see very few red elves in our daily life. But in fact, this is not because they are rare. On the contrary, research shows that thousands of red elves are produced around the world every day.

One of the reasons why red elves are rare is that they appear for a very short time. Usually, it occurs within 4 milliseconds after a positive lightning return strike, and the duration usually ranges from a few milliseconds to dozens of milliseconds. Note that here we use milliseconds as the unit of time. This is a very short period of time. According to the blinking time of a person, the blinking time of a person is 0.2-0.4 seconds, which means that the duration of a red elf is dozens of times shorter than that of a human blinking.

The second reason for the rarity is that red elves usually appear in the nearby space above thunderstorm clouds, so the line of sight is easily obscured. This is one of the reasons why we seldom observe red elves in our daily life.

The research value of red elves has been said so much, why do we need to understand and study red elves? In fact, the study of red elves has many research values.

First, red elves may have an impact on the structure and composition of the atmosphere by releasing large amounts of radiant energy and changing the content of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. This is very important for us to understand the changes in the atmospheric environment and climate. By studying red elves, we can better understand how they interact with the atmosphere, so as to better predict and explain phenomena such as climate change.

Secondly, the study of red elves can deepen our understanding of the safety effects of lightning on nearby space. Understanding the formation mechanism and behavior of red elves can help us to better predict and prevent lightning strikes, electromagnetic interference and other problems, and provide security and security for activities in nearby space.

In addition, the study of red elves can also provide help for the development of near space resources in the future. Near space is considered to be an important field of resource development and exploration in the future. Understanding the nature and characteristics of red elves can provide valuable information and guidance for scientists and engineers in related fields and help them seize the strategic highlands of near space.

In addition to red elves, there are also giant jets, blue jets, ghost fire elves, etc., which are rarer than red elves, and their forms and specific formation mechanisms are also different. I hope everyone will have good luck to see them.

Giant Jet-the highest Lightning in the World

Blue Jet-the Little Brother of Giant Jet

Green Ghost Fire Elf this article comes from the official account of Wechat: stone popular Science Studio (ID:Dr__Stone). By Peng Yanghui.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.