This sound of lightning striking the ocean was recorded underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. Sound courtesy of Henry Bass, Roy Arnold and Anthony Atchley, National Center for Physical Acoustics
Lightning makes one of the loudest natural sounds in the ocean. The source level of lightning striking the ocean surface is about 260 underwater dB at 1 meter. Lightning strikes the coastal oceans at a rate of about 2 strikes per square kilometer per year. Lightning in the open ocean is rare. Most people are very familiar with lightning because lightning strikes the land much more often than the ocean. In the arctic and antarctic there is very little lightning.
References
Arnold, R.T., Bass, H.E. and Atchley, A.A. 1984. Underwater sound from lightning strikes to water in the Gulf of Mexico. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 76(1): 320-322.
Additional Resources
Hill, R.D. 1985. Investigation of lightning strikes on water surface. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 78(6): 2096-2099.
