A fleeting burst of red light high above a Kimberley storm, in Western Australia's far north, has been caught on camera by a storm-chasing photographer.

The eruption of red, luminous sparks is known by meteorologists and weather enthusiasts as red sprites.

They are the result of a large electrical discharge and flash high above intense active thunderstorms, occurring in the stratosphere and mesosphere.

Photographer Danny Welgama said it was a "see-it-to-believe-it" moment. 

Danny Welgama says red sprites happen in "the blink of an eye". (Supplied: Danny Welgama)

"I saw it out of the corner of my eye and ran back to the camera to look and was just over the moon, I just screamed when I saw it," he said.

"You have to know where you're looking and what you're looking for, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see it."

Mr Welgama said the Kimberley was one of the most opportune places to see this phenomenon, because of the lack of light pollution and largely flat surrounds.

"It happens in the blink of an eye and then it's gone … if you've never seen one of them, you don't believe it, a lot of people think it's AI,"

he said.

"When it happens, just grab a beer, go outside and look up at the top of the sky so you will see."

Chasing red sprites 

Mr Welgama has been chasing storms to capture these rare and surreal images for the past two years.

Red sprites are mass electrical discharges that flash high above the intense, active thunderstorms. (Supplied: Danny Welgama)

He has a knack for predicting when they will occur – then it is just a matter of positioning himself in the right spot to capture the spectacle.

"The storm cloud has to be around 150-200 kilometres away, so this storm was in Fitzroy Crossing and we were photographing from Derby," he said.

"These red sprites, blue jets and gigantic jets, they all are shooting upwards, they are shooting 40-90 kilometres above the storm clouds, so it has to be clear to see this stuff."

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said while lightning strikes and red sprites were both "large-scale electrical discharges", they were quite different. 

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson says red sprites occur in the stratosphere and mesosphere. (ABC News: Sharon Gordon)

"Red sprites are believed to be a form of luminous plasma, which typically lightning is not," they said. 

"Red sprites occur in higher levels of the atmosphere, the stratosphere and/or mesosphere, compared to typical lightning, which is in the lowest layer, the troposphere.

"They typically occur above large thunderstorm clouds, although can be displaced from the cloud itself, with a gap in between."

Meanwhile, Mr Welgama said he would continue chasing storms across the Kimberley in an effort to capture this rare, natural phenomenon.

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