The Mystery of Superbolt Lightning

Superbolts unleash a thousand times more energy than typical lightning.
Inside Science Television

(Inside Science) -- While studying space plasma physics, Robert Holzworth, from the University of Washington, and his team needed to keep track of lightning strikes around the world and built the World Wide Lightning Location Network. This network has about 100 lightning detection stations located around the world from Antarctica to Finland. While the researchers were looking at lightning data, they discovered some intense lightning strikes -- called superbolts -- which are not your ordinary lightning flashes. Holzworth explains what a superbolt is and when they happen.

Author Bio & Story Archive

Emilie Lorditch is the former Assistant News Director at AIP.