The waveguide between the Earth's surface and the ionosphere allows very low frequency (VLF) emissions generated by lightning, called sferics, to propagate over long distances (Fig. 1). The new Pacific Lightning Detection Network (PacNet), as a part of a larger long-range lightning detection network (LLDN), utilizes this attribute to monitor lightning activity over the central North Pacific Ocean with a network of ground-based lightning detectors that have been installed on widely spaced Pacific islands. PacNet and LLDN sensors combine both magnetic direction finding (MDF) and time-of-arrival (TOA) based technology to locate a strike with as few as two sensors. As a result, PacNet/LLDN is one of the few observing systems, outside of geostationary satellites, that provide continuous real-time data concerning convective storms throughout a synoptic-scale area over the open ocean.