In recent years there has been much interest in observing lightning and related phenomena from the vantage point of space. Satellite-based lightning observations provide critical information for operational weather forecasting, offer new insights on the behavior of deep convection, and can enlighten our understanding about the physics of the discharge process. The advent of geostationary lightning instruments has stimulated a renewal of studies comparing optical and RF-based measurements. The purpose of this session is to provide a forum for reporting new insights about these lightning fingerprints and what they reveal about discharge processes and their detection from a satellite perspective. Although studies that include optical instruments such as LIS, GLM, and ASIM/MMIA together with RF-based total lightning mapping networks are strongly desired, this session also invites complementary studies relevant to the design of future satellite-based lightning instruments.