ISS Timelapse and the Science of TLEs Chasing Ghosts Above the Storm

Picture this. The International Space Station (ISS) is racing silently over the Earth at more than 27,000 kilometers per hour. Below, storm systems sprawl across continents, their cloud tops glowing with ordinary lightning strikes. And then, in the black sky above the storm, something stranger flickers. Red tendrils stretch upward like ghostly jellyfish. Blue streaks dart into the stratosphere. Vast halos expand and vanish in less than a blink.

Captured in an ISS timelapse video titled “TLEs Hunting,” these phenomena are called Transient Luminous Events (TLEs). They are not science fiction. They are not auroras. They are very real bursts of electrical energy high above thunderstorms. Their names — sprites, blue jets, elves, gigantic jets — sound whimsical, but they belong to one of the most fascinating frontiers in atmospheric science.

From space, we can see them more clearly than ever. And the more we watch, the more we realize how much these fleeting flashes can teach us about Earth’s climate, energy balance, and the raw power of thunderstorms.

What Are TLEs

For centuries, sailors and pilots reported strange lights above storms. Red glows, brief flashes, upward streaks. Many dismissed them as hallucinations or folklore. It was only in 1989 that scientists definitively captured the first video evidence of a sprite above a thunderstorm in Minnesota. That one recording opened an entire field.

Transient Luminous Events occur in the mesosphere and lower ionosphere, the atmospheric layers about 50 to 100 kilometers above Earth’s surface. Unlike ordinary lightning, which discharges within clouds or to the ground, TLEs discharge into thinner air high above.

The main types are:

Sprites: Red, jellyfish-like flashes, often triggered by powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning. They last only a few milliseconds and can spread across tens of kilometers.
Blue Jets: Narrow, upward-moving cones of bluish light that shoot from thundercloud tops into the stratosphere.
Giant Jets: A hybrid, extending from the storm all the way into the ionosphere, sometimes 80–90 kilometers high.
Elves: Expanding rings of light, very short-lived, caused by electromagnetic pulses from lightning interacting with the ionosphere.
Halos and Glows: Diffuse flashes or disks of light, often precursors to sprites.

All of these fall under the broad family of TLEs. What makes them fascinating is not only their beauty but their role in Earth’s global electric circuit. Each flash is part of a vast balancing act between the surface, the atmosphere, and space.

Why They Are So Hard to See

Why did it take until the late 20th century to confirm phenomena that happen thousands of times a day? The answer is partly geography and partly biology.

TLEs occur above thunderstorm tops, often at altitudes where no one was looking. They are faint, short-lived, and usually drowned out by brighter lightning flashes below. To the naked eye on the ground, they can be hidden by clouds, haze, or distance. Pilots sometimes saw them from cockpits, but without recordings their stories lacked credibility.

Cameras changed the game. Long-exposure video, sensitive detectors, and strategic observation from aircraft or spacecraft made TLEs visible and measurable. The ISS, orbiting 400 kilometers above Earth, now provides perhaps the best vantage point of all.

The ISS as a Storm Observatory

The International Space Station is not just a lab for microgravity experiments. It is also one of the best platforms ever built for observing Earth’s atmosphere. Instruments like the Atmosphere–Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) were installed specifically to capture TLEs and related phenomena.

ASIM watches in multiple wavelengths, from ultraviolet to x-rays, to catch the full spectrum of electrical activity above storms. From orbit, it avoids the distortions of the lower atmosphere and can look down directly at storm systems over vast areas. A single orbit takes only 90 minutes, giving the ISS crew a chance to pass over dozens of thunderstorms each night.

Timelapse imagery from ISS crew cameras adds an artistic layer. When hundreds of frames are compressed into seconds, the planet comes alive with flashing storms and flickering TLEs. The hunting becomes possible: spotting sprites and jets that last only thousandths of a second in real time.

How TLEs Work

To appreciate TLEs, we need to return to basic physics. Thunderstorms act like giant batteries. Inside the storm, updrafts and downdrafts separate charges, with the top of the cloud carrying positive charge and the bottom carrying negative. Lightning occurs when that charge imbalance discharges, either within the cloud or to the ground.

Sometimes, a powerful lightning stroke releases not only downward energy but also upward electromagnetic pulses. These pulses accelerate electrons high above the storm, colliding with nitrogen molecules in the thin atmosphere. The collisions excite the molecules, which emit light when they relax. The result is a sprite, an elf, or another TLE.

The color depends on altitude and atmospheric chemistry. Nitrogen emissions at higher altitudes produce the red glow of sprites. At lower altitudes, nitrogen and oxygen interactions create blue or violet emissions.

From a physics perspective, TLEs are plasma phenomena — ionized gas glowing under intense electric fields. From an aesthetic perspective, they are ghostly lanterns illuminating the frontier between atmosphere and space.

What We See in the “TLEs Hunting” Timelapse

The timelapse video from the ISS compresses minutes of footage into seconds. Watch carefully and you will see:

Flashes above storm tops that do not resemble ordinary lightning. These are sprites, flickering red in the thin air.
Narrow streaks shooting upward. These are blue jets, rare but unmistakable when captured.
Expanding halos that vanish almost instantly — elves triggered by lightning’s electromagnetic pulses.

Because the ISS moves at orbital speeds, the scenery shifts rapidly. Storm systems roll beneath the field of view. The lights of cities drift in the background. In this context, TLEs look even more uncanny, as if Earth itself were sending signals into space.

The beauty of timelapse is that it lets the human eye see patterns. In real time, these flashes would be easy to miss. Sped up, the atmosphere above storms becomes a theater of electrical fireworks.

Scientific Value Beyond the Aesthetic

As mesmerizing as TLEs are, scientists do not chase them just for the visuals. They matter for several reasons.

Electrical Balance of the Atmosphere
TLEs are part of the global electric circuit, the system that connects ground, clouds, atmosphere, and ionosphere. Understanding them helps refine models of how charge moves around the planet.
Coupling Between Atmosphere and Space
TLEs are one way energy from thunderstorms affects the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. They can influence ionization, conductivity, and even chemical composition at high altitudes.
Climate Studies
Because TLEs depend on storm intensity, tracking them may provide insights into how storm behavior changes with climate shifts.
High-Energy Physics
Some TLEs are linked with terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, bursts of radiation reaching energies usually associated with cosmic sources. Studying these phenomena informs astrophysics as well as atmospheric science.

In short, TLEs are more than pretty lights. They are windows into how Earth’s atmosphere operates on scales from the microscopic to the planetary.

Citizen Science and the Joy of Hunting

You do not need to ride the ISS to be part of TLE research. Citizen science projects like Spritacular, supported by NASA, invite amateur observers to capture sprites and jets from the ground. Enthusiasts set up cameras with sensitive detectors, long exposures, and careful angles above storm systems. With luck and persistence, they can capture images that complement professional datasets.

Hunting TLEs from Earth is challenging. You need distant storms, clear skies, and a dark horizon. Even then, most flashes are so brief that only high-speed cameras reveal them. But the thrill of catching a sprite on camera is real. It connects everyday observers with phenomena once hidden from human eyes.

The ISS timelapse is a reminder that science is not only data. It is also participation, curiosity, and wonder.

TLEs in Culture and Imagination

Names like sprites and elves hint at the mythological feel of these events. For centuries, people have told stories of lights in the sky — from St. Elmo’s fire to dancing fairies. It is poetic that modern physics has uncovered real luminous beings that live above storms, however briefly.

In popular culture, TLEs sometimes appear in science fiction and photography contests. They inspire awe because they are rare, beautiful, and literally otherworldly in appearance. Yet they are part of Earth’s natural processes, occurring thousands of times a day. We just needed the right tools to see them.

Where This Research Leads

The study of TLEs is not finished. Instruments like ASIM continue to gather data from orbit. New satellites and ground-based observatories aim to capture high-speed, multi-wavelength recordings. The next steps include:

Mapping global frequency and distribution of TLEs.
Measuring their exact impact on atmospheric chemistry, especially ozone.
Studying links with cosmic rays and high-energy particle physics.
Integrating TLEs into climate and storm models.

Each of these directions connects disciplines — atmospheric science, space physics, climate studies, even astrophysics. TLEs are a reminder that Earth is not isolated. Its weather touches space, and space touches back.

Watching the Earth Spark

The ISS timelapse labeled “TLEs Hunting” is more than eye candy. It is a demonstration of how technology extends human vision. What once looked like ghost stories now stands as data-rich phenomena. What once was invisible is now a subject of global science.

When you watch sprites flicker above a thunderstorm, you are watching Earth discharge energy into space. You are seeing the planet breathe electrically. The view is beautiful, yes, but also profound.

In a century defined by our search to understand climate, energy, and the universe, TLEs remind us that the frontier of discovery is not always out among the stars. Sometimes it is right above the clouds, waiting for the right perspective to reveal it.

Resources and Further Reading

KINETIC KINE

7.27.2025