"We want[ed] to see what the boundaries [of superbolts] really are," atmospheric scientist Michael Peterson told The Washington Post. "Understanding these extreme events is important because it tells us what lightning is capable of," said Peterson, who has detected some record-breaking lightning strikes in recent years – including one 2018 megaflash (long-duration lightning burst) that stretched some 700 kilometres (440 miles) across the sky and lasted nearly 17 seconds. The study was led by Michael Peterson, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M. Every now and then, Earth reminds us it’s capable of releasing some furious energy. Superbolt lightning – also sometimes referred to as ‘bolts out of the blue’ – is defined as lightning so intense that it’s at least 100 times brighter and more intense than ordinary lightning, and may be more than 1,000 times brighter and more intense. A superbolt lasting nearly 7 seconds captured by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper over the southeastern United States in February 2019. Hunting for superbolts. This network has about 100 lightning detection stations located around the world from Antarctica to Finland. The results also showed that superbolts often occur over the ocean and tend to spark from megaflashes, which stretch hundreds of miles horizontally from tip to tail. Case in point: scientists have just While the researchers were looking at lightning data, they discovered some intense lightning strikes -- called superbolts -- which are not your ordinary lightning flashes. While the researchers were looking at lightning data, they discovered some intense lightning strikes -- called superbolts -- which are not your ordinary lightning flashes. "Oceanic storm systems, particularly during the winter, and especially those located around Japan are shown to produce these intense superbolts," the researchers explain in the second paper. The study was led by Michael Peterson, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M. Case in point: scientists have just detected a new extreme in hotspots of lightning activity called ‘superbolts’: intense lightning strikes that shine up to 1,000 times brighter than typical lightning strikes. Others strike the ground, delivering a shocking wallop to anything that gets in the way. The most radiant cases were concentrated in the central United States and in the Rió de La Plata Basin, which spans Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Argentina and Brazil. Emilie Lorditch is the former Assistant News Director at AIP. The results force a rethink on what constitutes a superbolt, and shed new light on how and where superbolts originate. Superbolts unleash a thousand times more energy than typical lightning. Some skip from cloud to cloud. "When you see a lightning flash from space, it will look a lot dimmer than if you were to see it from ground level because the clouds block some of the light," Peterson said, explaining how satellite measurements can differ from ground-based detectors. For comparison, that's more power in one bolt than all the solar panels in the US combined. Case in point: scientists have just detected a new extreme in hotspots of lightning activity called 'superbolts': intense lightning strikes that shine up to 1,000 times brighter than typical lightning strikes. What makes these bolts so dangerous, however, is their tendency to strike upward of … Superbolts were first detected from satellite data in the 1970s, being described as lighting that outshines average bolts by a factor of 100 or more. Combining satellite data with ground-based measurements, the researchers also found that superbolts are indeed a different kind of lightning. Unlike ground-based monitoring systems, which detect radio waves, the GLM measures the total brightness (optical energy) of lightning bolts within clouds, between clouds, plus lightning that strikes the ground. Although the satellites are fixated on the Americas, from Alaska in the north to Argentina's southern tip, GLM measures the most energetic lightning bolts, but not necessarily the most powerful flashes, if they happen to be shorter than 2 milliseconds. A superbolt is any flash of lightning that is 100-times brighter than average. The observations come from researchers at the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, who used satellites to measure the extreme lightning events. So, the matter is by no means settled. Lightning SUPERBOLT strikes are 1,000 TIMES brighter than ordinary flashes LIGHTNING has been detected exhibiting such extreme energy they … In the second study, the researchers analysed 12 years of data from another satellite and counted lighting strikes as superbolts if they produced 100 gigawatts of power. In a new study, Peterson and his colleague Erin Lay analysed data collected by NASA's Geostationary Lightning Mapper, a detector strapped to weather satellites and sent into orbit to record flashes of lightning, day and night, over the Americas and the adjacent oceans every two milliseconds. This network has about 100 lightning detection stations located around the world from Antarctica to Finland. The two papers were published here and here in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. "It will be an important undertaking by the atmospheric electricity community to reconcile the top events recorded by the various optical and [ground-based radio-frequency] instruments and then come to a consensus on what is – and what is not – a superbolt," the researchers write. Scientists have confirmed the existence of 'superbolts' that can be up to 1,000 times brighter than the average lightning strike, producing more power than all solar panels and wind turbines This let them triangulate the lightning’s location and power—a discharge strength of more than 1 million joules within the narrow bandwidth they measured meant that a strike was a “superbolt.” In two separate studies of extreme lightning events, researchers were astounded by the sheer power of mother nature that is unleashed far more regularly than previously thought.. (Michael Peterson/Los Alamos National Laboratory). Lightning differs by how strong it is, too.