A network of six radio receivers operating at Very Low Frequency (VLF; 3-30kHz), stretching from Australasia to Japan, has been in operation since early 2002. Propagation at these very long electromagnetic wavelengths (up to 100 km) allows lightning strokes to be located in real time at up to 10,000 km from the receivers with a location accuracy of a few kilometres. At each receiver site, some tens of lightning impulses ("sferics") are received each second. Earth-ionosphere waveguide propagation disperses the impulses into wave trains, the first millisecond of which is processed to determine the time of arrival. These times of arrival are transmitted to a central station in Dunedin, NZ, for determining the lightning stroke location.

The six lightning receivers in operation, along with another six which are about to become operational, are all on university campuses spanning the whole world. Current operation is concentrated on Australasia and the Western Pacific area. The role of lightning in starting wildfires is being investigated in cooperation with Murdoch University and the Western Australian Government, and is partly funded by the Australian Research Council.