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A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which an electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning.
Global map of lightning frequency--strikes/km 2 /yr. The high lightning areas are on land located in the tropics. Areas with almost no lightning are the Arctic and Antarctic, closely followed by the oceans which have only 0.1 to 1 strikes/km 2 /yr. The map on the right shows that lightning is not distributed evenly around the planet. [5]
Positive lightning is less common than negative lightning and on average makes up less than 5% of all lightning strikes. [10] A bolt from the blue lightning strike which appears to initiate from the clear, but [clarification needed] the turbulent sky above the anvil cloud and drive a bolt of plasma through the cloud directly to the ground. They ...
Sympathetic lightning is the tendency of lightning to be loosely coordinated across long distances. Discharges can appear in clusters when viewed from space. [22] [23] [24] [clarification needed] Upward lightning or ground-to-cloud lightning is a lightning flash which originates from the top of a grounded object and propagates upward from this ...
A ground current, the electricity that flows through the ground away from the point where lightning strikes, puts anyone nearby the strike at risk of shock. Ground currents affect a much larger ...
Lightning is very infrequent, 1–5 cloud-to-ground strikes in a five-minute period. 3 Widely scattered thunderstorms. Lightning is infrequent, 6–10 cloud-to-ground strikes in a five-minute period. 4 Scattered thunderstorms. Lightning is frequent, 11–15 cloud-to-ground strikes in a 5-minute period. 5 Numerous thunderstorms.
Fragments of Constantine's Arch lie on the ground after lightning struck it during a storm in Rome, Italy on Sept. 3, 2024.
Ground-based and mobile detectors calculate the direction and severity of lightning from the current location using radio direction-finding techniques along with an analysis of the characteristic frequencies emitted by lightning. Ground-based systems can use triangulation from multiple locations to determine distance, while mobile systems can ...