Editing Lightning (section)

=== Electromagnetic radiation and interference ===
Electromagnetic waves are emitted in a variety of wavelengths, most obviously that of visible light – the big bright flash. This emitted radiation results partly from [[black-body radiation]] due to the temperature increase caused by electrical resistance of the air,<ref name="Kieu2020">{{cite journal |last1=Kieu |first1=N. |last2=Gordillo-Vázquez |first2=F. J. |last3=Passas |first3=M. |last4=Sánchez |first4=J. |last5=Pérez-Invernón |first5=F. J. |last6=Luque |first6=A. |last7=Montanyá |first7=J. |last8=Christian |first8=H. |title=Submicrosecond Spectroscopy of Lightning-Like Discharges: Exploring New Time Regimes |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |date=16 August 2020 |volume=47 |issue=15 |pages=e2020GL088755 |doi=10.1029/2020GL088755|pmid=32999518 |pmc=7507749 |bibcode=2020GeoRL..4788755K |hdl=10261/218540 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and partly for other reasons that are still being actively researched.<ref name="AIP2025">{{cite web |title=Explaining high-frequency radio waves generated during lightning strikes |url=https://ww2.aip.org/scilights/explaining-high-frequency-radio-waves-generated-during-lightning-strikes |website=AIP |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=en |date=2 September 2022}}</ref>

====Radio frequency radiation====
{{further|Radio atmospheric signal|label1=Radio atmospheric|Whistler (radio)|label2=Whistler|Schumann resonances}}

Lightning discharges generate radio-frequency electromagnetic waves which can be received thousands of kilometers from their source. The discharge by itself is relatively simple short-lived [[dipole]] source that creates a single electromagnetic pulse with a duration of about 1 ms and a wide spectral density. 
In the absence in the nearby environment of materials with [[Permeability (electromagnetism)|magnetic]] or [[Permittivity|electrical]] interaction properties, at a large distances in a [[Near and far field|far field]] zone, the electromagnetic wave will be proportional to the second derivation of the discharge current.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Landau|first1=Lev D|author1-link=Lev Landau|last2=Lifshitz|first2=Evgeny M|author2-link=Evgeny Lifshitz|title=[[Course of Theoretical Physics|The Classical Theory of Fields]]|volume=2|edition=4th|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann|date=1975|isbn=978-0-7506-2768-9}}</ref> This is what happens with high-altitude discharges or discharges over areas of a dry land.
{{multiple image
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 | total_width=800
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 | image1=
 | caption1=A single unaffected discharge over a dry land.
 | image2=
 | caption2=A discharge above conductive ground that induced local [[Eddy current]]s.
 | image3=
 | caption3=A discharge above [[ocean]]ic waters triggered [[resonance]] oscillations.
 | footer=Electromagnetic signals in a 10 Hz to 4 kHz frequency range produced by three different lightning discharges occurring thousands of kilometers away from the same registering station.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hmicom.com/Archive/X3PE2ANC|title=Electromagnetic field records taken August 2016 near Stewart BC, Canada.|last=Issinski|first=A.|date=2016-08-28}}</ref> The lightning's local environment altered the shape of the received [[Near and far field|far field]] signal.
}}
In other cases, the surrounding environment will change the shape of the source signal by absorbing some of its spectrum and converting it into a heat or re-transmitting it back as modified electromagnetic waves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Landau|first1=Lev D|author1-link=Lev Landau|last2=Lifshitz|first2=Evgeny M|author2-link=Evgeny Lifshitz|last3=Pitaevskii|first3=Lev P|author3-link=Lev Pitaevskii|title=[[Course of Theoretical Physics|Electrodynamics of Continuous Media]]|volume=8|edition=2nd|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann|date=1984|isbn=978-0-7506-2634-7}}</ref>

==== High-energy radiation ====
{{further|Terrestrial gamma-ray flash}}
The production of [[X-ray]]s by a bolt of lightning was predicted as early as 1925 by [[Charles Thomson Rees Wilson|C.T.R. Wilson]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Wilson | first1 = C.T.R. | date = 1925 | title = The acceleration of beta-particles in strong electric fields such as those of thunderclouds | journal = Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society | volume = 22 |pages = 534–538 |bibcode = 1925PCPS...22..534W |doi = 10.1017/S0305004100003236 | issue = 4 | s2cid = 121202128 }}</ref> but no evidence was found until 2001/2002,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Moore | first1 = C. B. | last2 = Eack | first2 = K. B. | last3 = Aulich | first3 = G. D. | last4 = Rison | first4 = W. | title = Energetic radiation associated with lightning stepped-leaders | doi = 10.1029/2001GL013140 | journal = Geophysical Research Letters | volume = 28 | issue = 11 | page = 2141 | year = 2001 |bibcode = 2001GeoRL..28.2141M | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dwyer | first1 = J. R. | last2 = Uman | first2 = M. A. | last3 = Rassoul | first3 = H. K. | last4 = Al-Dayeh | first4 = M. | last5 = Caraway | first5 = L. | last6 = Jerauld | first6 = J. | last7 = Rakov | first7 = V. A. | last8 = Jordan | first8 = D. M. | last9 = Rambo | first9 = K. J. | last10 = Corbin | first10 = V. | last11 = Wright | first11 = B. | title = Energetic Radiation Produced During Rocket-Triggered Lightning | doi = 10.1126/science.1078940 | journal = Science | volume = 299 | issue = 5607 | pages = 694–697 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12560549 | url = http://www.lightning.ece.ufl.edu/PDF/Dwyer_et_al_2003.pdf | bibcode = 2003Sci...299..694D | s2cid = 31926167 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304220240/http://www.lightning.ece.ufl.edu/PDF/Dwyer_et_al_2003.pdf | archive-date = March 4, 2016 | df = mdy-all | access-date = August 28, 2015 }}</ref><ref>Newitz, A. (September 2007) "Educated Destruction 101", ''Popular Science'', p. 61.</ref> when researchers at the [[New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology]] detected X-ray emissions from an induced lightning strike along a grounded wire trailed behind a rocket shot into a storm cloud. In the same year, [[University of Florida]] and [[Florida Institute of Technology|Florida Tech]] researchers used an array of electric field and X-ray detectors at a lightning research facility in North Florida to confirm that natural lightning makes X-rays in large quantities during the propagation of stepped leaders. The cause of the X-ray emissions is still a matter for research, as the temperature of lightning is too low to account for the X-rays observed.<ref>[http://www.physorg.com/news135351802.html Scientists close in on source of X-rays in lightning] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905120610/http://www.physorg.com/news135351802.html |date=September 5, 2008 }}, ''Physorg.com'', July 15, 2008. Retrieved July 2008.</ref><ref name=Sergio2013>{{cite web | url=http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/geophysics/article00996.html | title=Scientists Explain Invisible 'Dark Lightning' | website=Sci-News.com | date=April 11, 2013 | access-date=July 9, 2013 | author=Prostak, Sergio | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620185324/http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/geophysics/article00996.html | archive-date=June 20, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

A number of observations by space-based telescopes have revealed even higher energy [[gamma ray]] emissions, the so-called [[terrestrial gamma-ray flash]]es (TGFs). These observations pose a challenge to current theories of lightning, especially with the recent discovery of the clear signatures of [[antimatter]] produced in lightning.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Signature of antimatter detected in lightning|url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/signature-antimatter-detected-lightning|website=Science News|last=Cowen|first=Ron|date=November 6, 2009|access-date=July 28, 2023|archive-date=July 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728171126/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/signature-antimatter-detected-lightning|url-status=live}}</ref> Recent research has shown that secondary species, produced by these TGFs, such as [[electrons]], [[positrons]], [[neutrons]] or [[protons]], can gain energies of up to several tens of MeV.<ref name="KohnEbert">{{cite journal|last1=Köhn |first1=C. |last2=Ebert |first2=U.|author2-link= Ute Ebert |title=Calculation of beams of positrons, neutrons and protons associated with terrestrial gamma-ray flashes |journal=[[J. Geophys. Res. Atmos.]] |date=2015 |volume=23 |issue=4 |doi=10.1002/2014JD022229 |pages=1620–1635|bibcode=2015JGRD..120.1620K |url=https://ir.cwi.nl/pub/23845 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="KohnHarakeh">{{cite journal|last1=Köhn |first1=C. |last2=Diniz |first2=G. |last3=Harakeh |first3=Muhsin |title=Production mechanisms of leptons, photons, and hadrons and their possible feedback close to lightning leaders |journal=[[J. Geophys. Res. Atmos.]] |date=2017 |volume=122 |issue=2 |pages=1365–1383 |doi=10.1002/2016JD025445|pmid=28357174 |pmc=5349290 |bibcode=2017JGRD..122.1365K }}</ref>