We have examined lightning flashes in five nighttime, oceanic thunderstorms, which were jointly observed by Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE). The multiplicity of instruments on board these satellites presents a multiphenomenological snapshot view of oceanic nighttime convection. Data are available for five oceanic storms with a total of 40 flashes. The independent optical imagers on each satellite establish the flash locations. The relative fraction of Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS)--detected optical pulses that were also observed by the FORTE/photodiode detector varied from 0% for LIS range less than 104 J sr-1 m-2 ¿m-1 to 100% for LIS range greater than 106 ¿J-1 sr-1 m-2 ¿m-1. The FORTE/VHF data sometimes allow estimation of the VHF source emissions heights and identification of individual discharge processes as positive or negative, in-cloud or cloud-to-ground. These observations reinforce the concepts that the VHF pulses are produced by a breakdown process, while the optical pulses are the result of current flow.