From the archive record
Natural static discharge in monsoon clouds over Pakistan, as seen parallel to the event, from an aeroplane flying through a completely clear sky, at an altitude of 40, 000 feet. This marvellous display was taking place some 20 kilometers away in the pitch-dark night sky! Surely one of the most remarkable natural phenomena we have ever seen... Upper-atmospheric lightning or Ionspheric Lightning are terms sometimes used by researchers to refer to a family of short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena that occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds. Upper-atmospheric lightning is believed to be electrically induced forms of luminous plasma. The preferred usage is transient luminous event (TLE), because the various types of electrical-discharge phenomena in the upper a