Resolution of the sprite polarity paradox: The role of halos

This study revisits the sprite polarity paradox, first manifest by observations that exceptional cloud-to-ground flashes with negative polarity generally did not produce detectable sprites. The paradox is here resolved by the Transient Luminous Event (TLE) known as the halo, which on account of its inferior brightness (0.3 MR versus 1.5 MR) and substantially shorter duration (1 ms versus 10–100 ms...