transient luminous event

English

Noun

transient luminous event (plural transient luminous events)

1. (astronomy, meteorology, aviation) Any of a variety of upper atmospheric optical phenomena associated with thunderstorms.
   • 2010, Rafael Escribano Torres, Isabel Tanarro Onrubiay, Spectroscopy of the atmospheres‎^[1], CSIC, page 34:

     Transient luminous events can be another source of ionization in the upper atmosphere.

   • 2012, Don Lipman, “Red sprites, blue jets, and elves What are these mysterious, elusive phenomena?”, in The Washington Post:

     During World War II (and probably before), high flying pilots were reported to have observed unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP), often now called transient luminous events (TLE’s), particularly in the vicinity of thunderstorms.

   • 2018, Mary Halton, “Hunting mystery giant lightning from space”, in BBC News:

     Known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), these unusual features were first spotted by accident in 1989.

Synonyms

• TLE (abbreviation)

Coordinate terms

• blue starter
• blue jet
• elve
• gigantic jet
• gnome
• pixie
• red sprite
• sprite halo
• sprite
• troll
• upward lightning

Derived terms

• TLE (abbreviation)

See also

• unidentified flying object (“UFO”)
• unexplained aerial phenomenon (“UAP”)