Studying Storms from Space Station

NASA · June 12

3 Min Read

Studying Storms from Space Station

A view of Earth’s atmosphere from space, showing a bright blue lightning-like phenomenon striking upwards from a storm system. The International Space Station is visible in the top left, hovering above the Earth’s curvature.

An artist’s impression of a blue jet as observed from the space station.

Credits: Mount Visual/University of Bergen/DTU

Science in Space June 2025

Scientists use instruments on the International Space Station to study phenomena in Earth’s ionosphere or upper atmosphere including thunderstorms, lightning, and transient luminous events (TLEs). TLEs take many forms, including blue jets, discharges that grow upward into the stratosphere from cloud tops, and colorful bursts of energy above storms called Stratospheric/Mesospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification or SPRITES.

Lightning creates a large, bright white spot in the center of this image, with several sprites, thin red vertical lines, above it. Several other white spots extend to the left and the city lights line the coast on the far left. Earth’s horizon is a faint green band across the top of the image.

Red SPRITES are visible above a line of thunderstorms off the coast of South Africa.

NASA

TLEs can disrupt communication systems on the ground and pose a threat to aircraft and spacecraft. Understanding these phenomena also could improve atmospheric models and weather predictions. Because these events occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds, they are difficult to observe from the ground. ASIM, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), uses a monitor on the exterior of the space station to collect data on TLEs. These data are providing insights into how thunderstorms affect Earth’s atmosphere and helping to improve atmospheric models used for weather and climate predictions.

ELVES and coronas

A study based on ASIM data confirmed that lightning-like discharges at the tops of thunderstorms can create another type of TLE, massive glowing rings in the upper atmosphere known as Emissions of Light and VLF Perturbations from EMP events, or ELVES. This experiment showed that these discharges influence the ionosphere and helped scientists learn more about Earth and space weather.

ASIM-based research also described the physical properties of different types of corona discharges in thunderstorm clouds. Corona discharges are linked to powerful but short-lived electrical bursts near the tops of clouds. The data provide a reference to support further investigation into the mechanisms behind these discharges and their role in the initiation of lightning, an important problem in lightning physics.

Other researchers used ASIM measurements along with ground-based electric field measurements to determine the height of a blue discharge from a thundercloud.

Cloud close-ups

Lightning on Earth as captured from the space station.

NASA

Another ESA investigation, Thor-Davis, evaluated use of a special camera to photograph high-altitude thunderstorms through the windows of the space station’s cupola. The camera can observe thunderstorm electrical activity at up to 100,000 frames per second and could be a useful tool for space-based observation of severe electrical storms and other applications.

Seeing storms from satellites

A module of the space station is visible in the upper right of this image, with an arm extending downward toward the middle of it. At the end of the arm is a white square deployer with two boxes on its right side. The door on one of the boxes is open and just below it is a white and black rectangular CubeSat that has just been ejected from the deployer. Long, gold-colored solar panels fill the left side of the image and Earth covers the lower half of the image, blue ocean with scattered white clouds.

Deployment of the Light-1 CubeSat from the space station.

NASA

The JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) investigation Light-1 CubeSat used detectors integrated into a compact satellite to observe terrestrial gamma-ray flashes in the upper atmosphere. These high intensity, energetic events can expose aircraft, aircraft electronics, and passengers to excessive radiation. Researchers are planning to compare data collected from the mission with ground-based observations to provide more comprehensive maps of lightning and thunderstorms in the atmosphere. Small satellite detectors could cost less and be manufactured in less time than other approaches.

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