Welcome to NEMETODE

Network for Meteor

Triangulation and Orbit Determination

In the British Isles we occasionally get violent thunderstorms, predominently during July and August and our NEMETODE cameras have been fortunate enough to capture some sprites. A chronology of sprite detections from within this part of the world is given at the bottom of this page. As ever, it's always worth keeping an eye on the skies, irrespective of the weather forecast!

Operators of meteor imaging equipment (especially video) are encouraged to deploy their equipment irrespective of forecast conditions and in particular when thunderstorms are more prevalent. The low light sensitivity of these systems combined with the typical frame rate (and even higher field rate for non-interlaced video cameras) makes them ideally suited for the capture of data that will be of use to researchers active in this area.

The likelihood of imaging sprites is enhanced by having a clear unobstructed line of sight to a distant thunderstorm. As a consequence they will appear close to the horizon and operators should be mindful of checking the edges of their cameras’ fields of view in any captured images. If you do capture one, please report it to Dr Martin Fullekrug at the University of Bath as soon as possible. Additional radio detection data relating to sprites is typically captured on a circular database and timly reporting will enable Martin to retrive it prior to it being overwritten.

Finally, SonotaCo, the developer of the UFO Software Suite, has posted a workflow for the analysis of Sprite images here.

All images and videos are available for individual personal use. The copyright resides with the authors and their written permission must be obtained in advance of any public and / or commercial use.
A series of sprite events originating from a storm to the south of London were imaged by multiple cameras just before midnight on 07th February 2016 by Allan Carter, Richard Fleet and Hampshire Astronomical Group. It's fair to say that Allan's captures from his East facing camera are, by some considerable margin, the best imagery of these elusive phenomena ever caught by video meteor cameras from the British Isles. Allan's videos include the event at normal speed as well as the same event slowed down by a factor of 10. Also shown are the views from his North facing camera which partially overlaps with the East camera. The imagery from other sites is linked in the chronology at the bottom of this page.
07th February 23:46:46 UTC Basingstoke, Hampshire (Allan Carter)
Still Image			Video
07th February 23:57:18 UTC Basingstoke, Hampshire (Allan Carter)
Still Image			Video
Allan Carter was able to detect two sprite events on the evening of 12th August 2015 from his station in Basingstoke. The videos have been slowed down by a factor of x10 in order to show how they evolve.
Basingstoke, Hampshire (Allan Carter) 12th August 2015 20:57:29 UTC
Still Image			Video
Basingstoke, Hampshire (Allan Carter) 12th August 2015 22:01:55 UTC
Still Image			Video
Gordon Reineke's sprite observations from Newbridge, Co Kildare are probably, based on the observed azimuth and elevation, the result of lightning discharge event off the coast of County Cork. They appear to be the top of what are known as "carrot" sprites - alas the lower parts of the sprite are below the camera's field of view.
Newbridge, Co Kildare (Gordon Reineke) 17th July 2014 22:56:16 UTC
Still Image			Video
Newbridge, Co Kildare (Gordon Reineke) 17th July 2014 23:06:04 UTC
Still Image			Video
Newbridge, Co Kildare (Gordon Reineke) 17th July 2014 23:11:22 UTC
Still Image			Video
Note that the Ravensmoor North East and Ravensmoor South East cameras have been rotated clockwise through 90 degrees within their housings in order to minimise local overlap (see Nodes) and so what appears to be the bottom of the field of view is actually the left hand side. These observations formed the basis of the paper "Recordings of 'Sprites' by Video Meteor Detection Cameras" published in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association 124, 4 (August 2014). Cropped, rotated and enhanced versions of the four individual fields associated with the 23rd July 2013 02:06:16 observation are here: 1, 2, 3, 4. The University of Bath Wideband Digital Low-frequency Receiver plots associated with these Ravensmoor images are available here.
Ravensmoor South East 23rd July 2013 02:06:16 UTC
Still Image			Video
Ravensmoor North East 23rd July 2013 22:38:52 UTC. This event was also captured by a UKMON camera and subject to a press release from the University of Bath, detailing the location of the lightening event.
Still Image			Video
Ravensmoor North East 23rd July 2013 22:42:06 UTC
Still Image			Video
Ravensmoor North East 23rd July 2013 22:45:23 UTC
Still Image			Video
All images and videos are available for individual personal use. The copyright resides with the authors and their written permission must be obtained in advance of any public and / or commercial use.
Chronology of known or suspected sprite captures detected from the British Isles. Space based missions have shown that sprites are generally confined to latitudes of between -50 and +50 (see Figure 23) and outside of this band, they are relatively rare. As can be seen below, sprite observations from the British Isles are common over the South Coast of England, over the English Channel and out towards Continental Europe. Of particular interest therefore are those that occur further north eg over the British Isles and its territorial waters - these observations are highlighted in yellow.
2005 January 18 19:43:41 UTC, Robert Cobain, Bangor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
2011 October 26 01:25:39 UTC, Graham Roche, Dublin, Ireland
2011 December 13 20:41:23 UTC, Nick James, Chelmsford, Essex, UK
2012 December 07 01:24:38 UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2012 December 07 01:35:44 UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2013 July 23 02:06:16 UTC, William Stewart (NEMETODE), Ravensmoor, Cheshire, UK (see above)
2013 July 23 02:31:44 UTC, Hampshire AG (UKMON), Clanfield, Hampshire, UK (assumed to be UT, not BST)
2013 July 23 02:59:36 UTC, Hampshire AG (UKMON), Clanfield, Hampshire, UK (assumed to be UT, not BST)
2013 July 23 22:38:52 UTC, William Stewart (NEMETODE), Ravensmoor, Cheshire, UK (see above)
2013 July 23 22:38:52 UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK - press release and media
2013 July 23 22:42:06 UTC, William Stewart (NEMETODE), Ravensmoor, Cheshire, UK (see above)
2013 July 23 22:45:23 UTC, William Stewart (NEMETODE), Ravensmoor, Cheshire, UK (see above)
2013 July 24 02:26:04 UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2013 July 25 00:05:02 UKC, Armagh Observatory, from Armagh, Co. Armagh, Northen Ireland
2013 August 02 23:08:?? UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2013 October 03 23:26:25 UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2013 October 04 00:15:35 UTC, Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2013 December 24 17:57:00 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcott, Wiltshire, UK
2014 January 25 18:17:48 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2014 January 25 18:20:53 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2014 January 25 18:25:14 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2014 January 25 18:27:43 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2014 February 13 00:59:42 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2014 May 19 22:21:28 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK
2014 July 17 22:56:16 UTC Gordon Reineke (NEMETODE), Newbridge, Kildare, RoI (see above)
2014 July 17 23:06:04 UTC Gordon Reineke (NEMETODE), Newbridge, Kildare, RoI (see above)
2014 July 17 23:11:22 UTC Gordon Reineke (NEMETODE), Newbridge, Kildare, RoI (see above)
2014 September 19 02:04:06 UTC Normon Lockyer Observatory (UKMON), Sidmouth, Devon, UK
2014 September 20 00:02:04 UTC Hampshire Astronomy Group (UKMON), Clanfield, Oxfordshire, UK
2014 October 06 23:21:49 Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2014 October 06 23:33:35 UTC Graham Roche (NEMETODE), Dublin, Ireland (see Home page)
2014 October 06 23:33:35 UTC Michael O'Connell (NEMETODE), Co Kildare, Ireland (see Home page)
2014 October 06 23:33:35 UTC David Anderson (NEMETODE), South Ayrshire, Scotland (see Home page)
2014 October 07 00:21:46 UTC Graham Roche (NEMETODE), Dublin, Ireland (see Home page)
2014 October 07 00:21:46 UTC David Anderson (NEMETODE), South Ayrshire, Scotland (see Home page)
2014 October 07 01:44:48 UTC Normon Lockyer Observatory (UKMON), Sidmouth, Devon, UK
2014 October 07 02:45:50 UTC Normon Lockyer Observatory (UKMON), Sidmouth, Devon, UK
2014 October 08 23:24:32 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2014 November 02 22:25:15 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2014 November 02 22:35:29 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2014 November 08 03:20:01 UTC Christopher Curtis (UKMON), Horley, Surrey, UK
2014 November 08 03:37:26 UTC Christopher Curtis (UKMON), Horley, Surrey, UK
2015 June 11 22:04:56 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2015 July 04 01:07:53 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2015 July 04 01:30:30 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2015 July 04 01:36:24 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2015 August 12 20:57:29 UTC Allan Carter (NEMETODE), Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK (see above)
2015 August 12 22:01:55 UTC Allan Carter (NEMETODE), Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK (see above)
2015 August 12 23:01:05 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2015 August 12 23:03:48 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2016 February 07 23:34:44 UTC Richard Fleet (UKMON), Wilcot, Wiltshire, UK
2016 February 07 23:46:46 UTC Allan Carter (NEMETODE), Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK (see above)
2016 February 07 23:57:18 UTC Allan Carter (NEMETODE), Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK (see above)
2016 February 07 23:57:18 UTC Hampshire Astronomy Group (UKMON), Clanfield, Hampshire, UK
2016 June 07 22:02:00 UTC Richard Kacerek (UKMON), Ash Vale, Surrey, UK

This link is useful for determining the location of historic lightning strikes (and hence the probable location of the sprite) within the British Isles. The latter portion of the URL has the date and time in the format YYYYMMDDHHMM (in 15 minute increments) - manually edit the URL to pick the date / time combination of interest. And if you're quick, a real time plot showing a one hour window (albeit with a two hour delay) of lightning strikes in Europe is available from EUCLID.

If you are aware of any other sprite captures from the British Isles that are not listed here, please get in touch and they will be added to the list.