Superbolt Lightning: The Sky's Sword Spanning Hundreds of Kilometers

3. The Discovery of Super Lightning

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Super lightning represents a major turning point in atmospheric electricity and a paradigm change in our knowledge of the scope and strength of lightning events. Combining technological developments, fortuitous sightings, and focused scientific investigation, this breakthrough finally revealed a class of electrical discharges well beyond the known boundaries of regular lightning. The path to find super lightning started in the late 20th century with the advancement of increasingly advanced lightning detecting technologies. Originally intended to track and monitor conventional lightning strikes for public safety and weather forecasting, these networks started to pick up unusual signals that defied normal patterns of lightning activity. These indications implied the presence of electrical discharges significantly more widespread in both time and space than anything else known. Still, the actual nature of these unusual occurrences started to take front stage only in the early 2000s. Researchers examining data from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) in the United States found multiple cases in 2001 of what looked to be single lightning flashes spreading over lengths of more than 100 kilometres. At first, this discovery was greeted with doubt since it contradicted the accepted knowledge on the distance a lightning strike might cover. The turning point came in 2007 when Walter A. Lyons' team of researchers produced a ground-breaking study for the Journal of Geophysical Research. This analysis produced proof of a lightning discharge covering more than 300 kilometres across Oklahoma. The June 20, 2007, occurrence lasted over a second—a shockingly long length for a lightning flash. This article formally acknowledged what would later become known as megaflashes or super lightning. After this first discovery, super lightning piques more scientific curiosity. Seeking further cases of these large-scale electrical discharges, researchers started sifting through historical data from lightning monitoring networks, satellite sightings, and eyewitness reports. Clearer picture of the phenomena started to show as more cases were found and investigated. The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) launched on the GOES-16 satellite in 2016 marked a significant turning point in our understanding of super lightning. For seeing lightning activity across large distances, this sophisticated equipment offered hitherto unheard-of coverage and sharpness. The GLM's powers let scientists record and examine super lightning episodes with a degree of clarity never conceivable earlier. For several different scientific fields, the finding of super lightning has had significant ramifications. It has made meteorologists rethink their theories of thunderstorm dynamics and electrical charge distribution inside storm systems. It has given atmospheric physicists fresh directions of study into the basic mechanisms controlling electrical discharges in the atmosphere. Super lightning has revealed to climate scientists a fresh instrument for comprehending major atmospheric processes and their possible connections to climate change. Furthermore, the finding has had pragmatic consequences for public safety procedures and lightning protection systems. The knowledge that lightning may travel over such large distances has caused designers of lightning protection systems and safety rules to rethink their approaches. We are reminded of the dynamic and always changing character of scientific discovery as we keep learning about and comprehending super lightning. The discovery of this occurrence is a striking illustration of how ongoing scientific research and technology developments can expose fresh facets of the natural world—even in events as common as lightning. The discovery of super lightning is far from finished since every fresh observation and analysis advances us towards understanding of the secrets of these celestial giants across our planet.