Sprites in the mesosphere: New results from Africa

Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) are bright but brief gas discharge optical emissions in the mesosphere and stratosphere of the atmosphere, caused by the electric field generated by large lightning strikes. TLEs are commonly called Sprites and come in a large variety of different morphologies. South Africa is the most lightning rich country in the world during summer time with large convective thunderstorms. We observe sprites from the Karoo desert up to 900 km away from the camera location. We have estimated the altitude and position of different sprites relative to the lightning strength and location by 3D triangulation. We have also estimated the electron energy within sprites from optical data as well as the Joule heating and Poynting flux associated with sprites from electric and magnetic field observations. This presentation will give an introduction and overview of TLEs as well as latest sprites results from Africa.