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Lightning "Megaflashes"; Maritime Salvage Mission; History-Making Hockey Player; Record Ticket Prices For Super Bowl LVI. Aired 4-4:10a ET

Aired February 02, 2022 - 04:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: World record lightning "mega flash". Sounds like a pretty bright place to kick off the new show. I`m Carl Azuz. It`s good to

see you. According to a spokesman from the World Meteorological Organization, a "mega flash" is a really, really big lightning flash. The

official definition is any horizontal lightning bolt that travels more than 62 miles.

But the record breaking "mega flash" that WMO just announced was a little bit bigger. This bolt covered a distance of roughly 477 miles and it struck

across a path from Texas to Louisiana on April 9th, 2020. How do scientists know? How do they measure this stuff? A lot of its done using lightning

mapping array networks, a group of antennas, receivers and computers that record lightning.

These networks are based from the ground though. They have limitations when it comes "mega flashes". So what researchers have been doing is using

satellites to record and measure lightning events and that`s given them a new tool that collects more data about them.

This lead to the recent discovery of another record, one that was set in South America. On October 31st, 2018, a single "mega flash" lasted just

over 17.1 seconds. That was the longest "mega flash" ever recorded. It lit up the skies over Uruguay and northern Paraguay and it probably scared the

daylights out of anyone who noticed a 17 second lightning bolt. Geostation lightning mapping technology on satellites is relatively new.

So scientists think that bigger and brighter "mega flashes" will be observed in the future. They say one big takeaway from this is that it

shows people just how far lightning can reach and that can encourage folks to stay safe and take shelter as severe weather season approaches in the

Spring.

The crash of an American fighter jet in the South China Sea is another complication in an ongoing international dispute over these waters. Located

between Vietnam and the Philippines, the South China Sea is one of the busiest shipping routes on the planet.

China says it controls this body of water and since 2014, it`s been building artificial islands here to support its claims but other nations in

the region and several beyond it, including the United States say China doesn`t control these waters. And the U.S. regularly sails warships there

to support claims that these are international waters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The final approach of an F- 35C stealth fighter jet, seconds before it crash lands into the flight deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier. Images circulated on social media, confirmed by

the U.S. Navy show the plane moments later in the ocean, canopy open after its pilot escaped.

The cause of the crash, which injured the pilot and six sailors, still under investigation. The Navy now has the difficult task of recovering the

wreckage of a $100 million jet from the bottom of the ocean, to make sure defense experts say that it`s classified technology doesn`t fall into the

wrong hands.

PETER LAYTON, MILITARY AVIATION EXPERT, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY: The Chinese have a -- have a long history of being able to borrow something from

overseas and reverse engineer. So that this would certainly be a -- a gold mine as far as that goes.

WATSON: The crash occurred here in the South China Sea, a heavily trafficked body of water that Beijing claims almost all for itself, and

this is where two American aircraft carriers are currently operating accompanied by more than 100 war planes and at least 10 other warships. An

unmistakable demonstration of U.S. Naval power to both allies and rivals in Asia.

ALESSIO PATALANO, PROFESSOR OF WAR AND STRATEGY FOR EAST ASIA, KINGS COLLEGE LONDON: There is a powerful reminder, the facts being the Pacific

is a central strategic importance to the Biden Administration. It`s about signaling to other competitors in the region, (inaudible) China that the

United States credibility should not be taken lightly.

WATSON: The Chinese foreign ministry says it`s not interested in the crashed plane. A spokesman urged the U.S. to contribute more to regional

peace, rather than flexing force at every turn. But Chinese state media did some gloating saying, the crash exposed U.S. exhaustion at containing

China. Experts predict it will take several weeks for the U.S. Navy to recover this expensive wreck from the bottom of the sea. Ivan Watson, CNN,

Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these sports made its Olympic debut in the 1920 Summer games? Ice Hockey, Cycling, Curling or Fencing. Ice hockey was

first played in the 1920 Summer games and moved to the first Winter Olympics in 1924.

Women`s ice hockey was added to the Olympics in 1998, and in every tournament since then, the gold medal has gone to either Canada or the

United States. After an American victory in `98, Canada won four Olympics in a row from 2002 to 2014, but the U.S. is the defending champion from the

2018 games in South Korea. One of the players on America`s current Olympic team was born just across the St. Mary`s River from Canada. Hockey is in

her blood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY ROQUE, UNITED STATES WOMEN`S HOCKEY PLAYER: It`s made me who I am today playing with the guys and having to be tough, and not let things get

to you. You have to always be proving people wrong because people don`t think you`re tough enough to play with the boys, or good enough to play

with the boys. And so, they really see it.

JIM ROQUE, ABBY ROQUE`S FATHER: She does have a chip. She always had it, even in boy`s hockey. She had a little edge to her. She stood up for

herself and the biggest challenge is just trying to find a place for her to change. A lot of these rinks, no one had women`s locker rooms, she was in

closets.

A. ROQUE: When you`re younger, especially back in the day, I would look at players and I would think I want to be in the NHL but there wasn`t an NHL

for girls like me especially at the time. And I was sitting there, like, oh what else can I do and then all of a sudden you see these amazing U.S.

hockey players on the Olympic stage doing their thing. I`m like, yes, that`s -- that`s my dream.

That`s the highest you can go in hockey and that`s the team I want to be on. My dad was a hockey coach growing up. My mom wanted me to be in figure

skates. I hated them. So I basically forced my way out of the figure skates into hockey skates, because I just wanted to be like my dad and like his

players.

J. ROQUE: She was generally interested in everything from the equipment to how the guys dress, which sticks they use and all the little things they`d

do with pucks on the ice. So it was great to have her around.

A. ROQUE: For him, it was all about having fun. He was never trying to make me the best hockey player in the world. I think he just knew I loved it and

wanted me to be exposed to it and developed the ice rink so I could have fun with my friends. And I think that`s where a lot of my skill and my

talent really comes from, is just all those years having fun in the back yard.

I`ve definitely had an unconventional journey to get to this team. Growing up as an indigenous person, it wasn`t really that rare to see other hockey

players playing who had indigenous roots and then I got to college and I think that`s where it really clicked for me that you`re different than the

rest of the people.

J. ROQUE: It`s challenge, I know, for a lot of indigenous kids to get off the reserve, or off the band and move away and fit in, but Abby, obviously,

was real lucky that she grew up with a lot of kids like that in -- in her town.

A. ROQUE: I want to help to diversify hockey as a sport, making the sport more diverse is just trying to make it more accessible first of all but

also just, you need more visibility that you can make it. I think looking at this roster as a young kid, you didn`t see anybody who wasn`t a white

hockey player.

For me that goes a long way, seeing somebody like you doing it, being at the top of the game and knowing you can make it that far and that hockey is

a sport that includes you. If one little girl says I want to play hockey because she`s playing hockey. I think that would mean the world to me. Just

changing one person`s trajectory and letting them know that there`s a place for them in hockey and letting hockey do its thing because hockey really is

one of the greatest things that`s ever happened to me.

J. ROQUE: The other night I was watching something and I, kind of, had tears in my eyes just thinking about it a little bit and having an Olympian

daughter, you know. Now she`s going to go to the Olympics and try to win a gold medal and she wrote a letter to herself in grade 6 that she was going

to play at Wisconsin. She was going to play on the Olympic team and, you know, the only thing she hasn`t done yet is get the Mustang she said in the

letter she`s getting. So I mean, she`s -- she`s a focused kid.

A. ROQUE: It`s really special to be able to represent your country on clearly the biggest stage there is.

J. ROQUE: This isn`t a one time thing for Abby. I think she wants to play now and she wants to play in four years. I think, like, I think Abby wants

to play for a long time. She loves it.

A. ROQUE: I wouldn`t want to play hockey unless it was the most fun thing in the world and it really is for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: As of yesterday afternoon, the cheapest seats you could buy for Super Bowl LVI were selling for $7,000 each. The average price was around $10,000

or more and the cost could go even higher in the coming days. That makes this the most expensive Super Bowl ever for tickets.

The Cincinnati Bengals have never won a championship. The city of Los Angeles, California hasn`t hosted a Super Bowl in 30 years, and it`s a huge

metropolitan area where prices are expensive anyway. So those are all factors in ticket prices. So the prices are "super". It`s almost

"unBowlievable" for some fans in the stands.

It`s almost unachievable and their bankers may "block" them saying it`s "out of bounds" for them to draw down accounts just to see some

"touchdowns". But if you "received" a raise and can "foot" the bill for "football". "Hike" your budget and you make the "call".

I`m Carl Azuz, want to give a shout out to all the home schoolers watching today. We know you represent a growing part of our audience and we`re

thankful for you and everyone viewing CNN.

END