A method to empirically determine radio attenuation factors in lightning locating systems, the method comprising: detecting, by a first pair of two sensors, a first radio wave generated from a first lightning discharge, the first lightning discharge occurring at a first discharge location, the first pair of two sensors including a first sensor located at a first location and a second sensor located at a second location; for the first pair of sensors, determining a first propagation path between the first lightning discharge and the first sensor and a second propagation path between the first lightning discharge and the second sensor; detecting, by a second pair of two sensors, a second radio wave generated from a second lightning discharge, the second lightning discharge occurring at a second discharge location, the second pair of two sensors including a third sensor located at a third location and a fourth sensor located at a fourth location; for the second pair of sensors, determining a third propagation path between the second lightning discharge and the third sensor and a fourth propagation path between the second lightning discharge and the fourth sensor; determining a plurality of path vectors defined by an attenuation coefficient vector, including determining a first path vector for the first propagation path, a second path vector for the second propagation path, a third path vector for the third propagation path, and a fourth path vector for the fourth propagation path; constructing a matrix that includes a plurality of rows each of which includes a path vector difference where each path vector difference corresponds to a different one of multiple sensor pairs, where a first row of the plurality of rows comprises a first path vector difference between the first path vector and the second path vector and a second row of the plurality of rows comprises a second path vector difference between the third path vector and the fourth path vector, where each row in the matrix further includes at least one selection entry based on an identification of each of the two sensors in the sensor pair to enable the logarithm of a plurality of sensor calibration factors to be solved for; constructing a vector, where each entry of the vector comprises the difference between the logarithms of sensor amplitudes from a sensor pair measurement; inverting a system of linear equations defined by the matrix and the vector to solve for a set of attenuation factors that define the attenuation coefficient vector and the plurality of sensor calibration factors; and operating a global lightning network using the set of attenuation factors and sensor calibration factors. detecting, by a first pair of two sensors, a first radio wave generated from a first lightning discharge, the first lightning discharge occurring at a first discharge location, the first pair of two sensors including a first sensor located at a first location and a second sensor located at a second location; for the first pair of sensors, determining a first propagation path between the first lightning discharge and the first sensor and a second propagation path between the first lightning discharge and the second sensor; detecting, by a second pair of two sensors, a second radio wave generated from a second lightning discharge, the second lightning discharge occurring at a second discharge location, the second pair of two sensors including a third sensor located at a third location and a fourth sensor located at a fourth location; for the second pair of sensors, determining a third propagation path between the second lightning discharge and the third sensor and a fourth propagation path between the second lightning discharge and the fourth sensor; determining a plurality of path vectors defined by an attenuation coefficient vector, including determining a first path vector for the first propagation path, a second path vector for the second propagation path, a third path vector for the third propagation path, and a fourth path vector for the fourth propagation path; constructing a matrix that includes a plurality of rows each of which includes a path vector difference where each path vector difference corresponds to a different one of multiple sensor pairs, where a first row of the plurality of rows comprises a first path vector difference between the first path vector and the second path vector and a second row of the plurality of rows comprises a second path vector difference between the third path vector and the fourth path vector, where each row in the matrix further includes at least one selection entry based on an identification of each of the two sensors in the sensor pair to enable the logarithm of a plurality of sensor calibration factors to be solved for; constructing a vector, where each entry of the vector comprises the difference between the logarithms of sensor amplitudes from a sensor pair measurement; inverting a system of linear equations defined by the matrix and the vector to solve for a set of attenuation factors that define the attenuation coefficient vector and the plurality of sensor calibration factors; and operating a global lightning network using the set of attenuation factors and sensor calibration factors.