Bizarre Red Lights Produce a Glowing Sky Over Atlantic Ocean

Pilots photographed the mysterious red lights that produced an eerie glowing sky over the Atlantic Ocean at night.

The images show enormous patches of an unnerving red light over the Atlantic Ocean, as seen in a popular Reddit thread. The photographer, who is a pilot friend of theirs, claimed in the original poster to have never seen anything like it. The pilot requests anonymity.

Theoretical explanations for the strange lights were discussed in the Reddit thread's comments section. One commenter joked that it might be an entrance to the Upside Down from Stranger Things, but another thought the red glow might be caused by a novel fishing technique employed by boats pursuing Pacific saury, a species of baitfish.

Just Attracting Fish Here

Pacific saury, which can reach a maximum length of 12 inches, are found all over the Pacific Ocean and sporadically in the Atlantic. They are caught both for human consumption and as bait to catch larger fish. In the Atlantic, there are various other saury species.

Bright red lights are used at night to draw saury to the water surface where they can be quickly caught in the nets of commercial fishing vessels. Fishing lamps have long been used to lure fish species like saury toward fishing boats at night. However, according to Delta, a lamp manufacturer, these LED fishing lamps are far more effective and safe for use by fishermen because they produce less heat and ultraviolet light than filament bulbs.

Similar occurrences have previously been observed by other pilots as well as the International Space Station, which captured a photo of hundreds of fishing boats off the coast of Cambodia using green fishing lights, which are thought to be excellent for catching squid. Dmitriy, a pilot and photographer, captured a similar image of the amazing sight in 2020 while traveling from Seattle to Japan and is known online as @deltaoscarstudio.

He said that in his line of work, he has seen very many strange things, Newsweek reports.

Atmospheric Conditions + LED Lights

The sky above Zhoushan, China, turning a deep red color has been suggested to be caused by the bright boats, which are thought to be the cause of recent confusion elsewhere caused by fleets fishing boats that fish for Pacific saury using these LED lights. It is believed that the red light was refracted by the day's atmospheric conditions, causing the glow to cover the entire sky.

In response to the recent popularity of the photos, a YouTube video compiling the occurrences of the mysterious red lights was published in July 2022. This video makes a strong case for saury fishing being the sole cause of the glow.

Without further examination of the types of fishing vessels within that area at the time, the real cause of the eerie red glow in the sky that the unnamed pilot saw cannot be officially confirmed.