In a rock shelter(庇护所；岩棚) in Kakadu national park in the north of Australia is an image of a being the Bininj people call Namarrkon(澳大利亚原住民神话中的闪电神). His flesh bleached(漂白的；褪色的) away to reveal the bones beneath, he wears stone axes on his head, elbows and knees, and wields(挥舞；使用) a great band of lightning that runs from his ankles up, over his head.
在澳大利亚北部卡卡杜国家公园的一处岩棚中，有一幅比宁人称为纳马康的神灵画像。他的肌肉已经褪去，露出下面的骨骼，头上、肘部和膝盖上装着石斧，手中挥舞着一条巨大的闪电带，从脚踝一直延伸到头顶。
Namarrkon is one of the most important of the Bininj creation ancestors: his journey from the coast to the Arnhem Land escarpment(悬崖；陡坡) helped shape the landscape. And in the great storms that arc and rumble across the landscape during the buildup and the wet season, it is Namarrkon who splits the clouds with his stone axes to create the thunder and lightning and release the life-giving rain.(在雨季前和雨季期间，巨大的风暴在大地上空划出弧光、隆隆作响，正是纳马康用石斧劈开云层，制造雷电，释放赋予生命的雨水。)
纳马康是比宁人最重要的创世祖先之一：他从海岸到阿纳姆地悬崖的旅程塑造了这片地貌。在雨季前和雨季期间，巨大的风暴在大地上空划出弧光、隆隆作响，正是纳马康用石斧劈开云层，制造雷电，释放赋予生命的雨水。
Around the world there are an average of 60 lightning flashes a second, some extending more than 800km. Each flash can release up to seven gigajoules(吉焦（能量单位）) of energy, the equivalent of 1.67 tonnes of TNT, fleetingly(短暂地；瞬间地) heating the air around it to about 30,000C, five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. This constant discharge of energy plays a vital role in(在……中起关键作用) regulating Earth’s electrical field and the ionosphere(电离层). It helps drive the nitrogen cycle by cracking open nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere and making them available to plants, aiding in the production of ozone, and helping break down greenhouse gases such as methane.(它通过裂解大气中的氮分子使其可供植物利用，促进臭氧生成，并帮助分解甲烷等温室气体，从而推动氮循环。) And it underpins(支撑；构成……的基础) the cycles of fire that shape the ecologies of forests, savannahs(稀树草原) and grasslands across the planet. Lightning, as the story of Namarrkon captures, is an integral part of life on our planet.
全球平均每秒发生60次闪电，有些闪电延伸超过800公里。每次闪电可释放高达7吉焦的能量，相当于1.67吨TNT炸药，瞬间将其周围的空气加热到约3万摄氏度，是太阳表面温度的五倍。这种持续的能量释放对调节地球电场和电离层起着至关重要的作用。它通过裂解大气中的氮分子使其可供植物利用，促进臭氧生成，并帮助分解甲烷等温室气体，从而推动氮循环。它还支撑着塑造全球森林、稀树草原和草地生态系统的火循环。正如纳马康的故事所揭示的，闪电是我们星球生命中不可或缺的一部分。
Invisible fluids and cosmic rays
看不见的流体与宇宙射线
Lightning without storms
无风暴的闪电
Lightning in the fire cloud
火云中的闪电