Hello. A bunch of question marks as it has shown being very unpredictable leaving us with high school explanations and nothing better beyond.

Do lightning bolts flow from earth towards clouds or from clouds towards earth ?
Or depends on the polarity of charges at each location ?. But if earth is conductive; whatever charge is at a given location, the same charge has to be everywhere else, right ?
And some lightning bolts never land but flow between clouds or within clouds ? Is that right ?
And is there neutral polarities too ?

The excellent explanatory video of how lightning 'really' works is now not available at youtube ; could not link it here any more as reference .

If a very slow motion video shows lightning direction from a cloud-to-earth; does it mean/tell which is positive and which negative ?

Is there a method to discern if a cloud above has positive or negative charges respect of under our feet ? A tall antenna with a voltmeter to ground should read something before a strike, right ?

We see the lower end; but how is the upper end supposed to look like as in the image below where one of the 3 lightning rods is doing its job protecting the rocket ?



That not always work as below. WHY ?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

 

 

The negative charge in the thunder cloud is followed by a positive charge in the earth, potential is then there for conduction to take place under certain situations, spires, towers etc.

 

 

Striking the sea; how far around is its effect felt by marine life ? Should fish be surfacing belly up after by electrocution ? Multiplying its volts x its current x its time; has to be significant figure. Does water briefly boils at the point ?