blue jet šân-e âbi Fr.: jet bleu A transient optical phenomenon in the → stratosphere that emerges from the tops of → thunderstorm clouds at tremendous speeds. As their name implies, blue jets are optical ejections from the top of the electrically active core regions of thunderstorms. Following their emergence, they typically propagate upward in narrow cones at vertical speeds of roughly 100 km/s, fanning out and disappearing at heights of about 40-50 km. See also → sprite; → elve. |