Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

GLM Observations of the Brightest Lightning in the Americas

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jd033378· OSTI ID:1764209
 [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Two years of Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) science data are used to document the brightest lighting flashes observed on the Americas continent. The most radiant optical lightning emissions—termed “superbolts”—were first identified by the Vela satellite constellation in the 1970s (Turman, 1977) and are defined in terms of peak optical power. GLM is an integrating sensor that, instead, measures the total optical energy from a lightning pulse. Furthermore, while GLM might not correctly classify short-duration superbolts, its top lightning cases certainly fall in the superbolt category, and the wealth of GLM measurements over its stationary hemispheric field of view provide an unmatched sample of extraordinarily bright lightning. While radiant bolts in excess of 100× the optical energy of typical lightning are ubiquitous across the Americas and result from many types of lightning processes, we find the most radiant cases (>1,000×) are concentrated in the central United States and in the La Plata basin in South America. Coincident Earth Networks Global Lightning Network (ENGLN) observations reveal that these extremely bright emissions usually result from + CG strokes with high peak currents in long horizontal flashes outside of the convective core. Single cases of these megaflashes might produce multiple superbolts over their durations.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1764209
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1786696
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--20-23146
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Issue: 23 Vol. 125; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (34)

Lightning current and luminosity at and above channel bottom for return strokes and M-components: Current Speed from Luminosity journal October 2015
Global distribution and properties of continuing current in lightning: GLOBAL CONTINUING CURRENT LIGHTNING journal January 2017
The Evolution and Structure of Extreme Optical Lightning Flashes: Optical Lightning Flash Extremes journal December 2017
Evaluation of ENTLN Performance Characteristics Based on the Ground Truth Natural and Rocket-Triggered Lightning Data Acquired in Florida: Evaluation of ENTLN Performance journal September 2017
Optical power and energy radiated by return strokes in rocket-triggered lightning: Power Radiated in Triggered Lightning journal August 2017
A comparison of channel-base currents and optical signals for rocket-triggered lightning strokes journal July 2005
The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) journal May 2013
Class I HDAC inhibition stimulates cardiac protein SUMOylation through a post-translational mechanism journal December 2014
FORTE observations of lightning radio-frequency signatures: Capabilities and basic results journal March 1999
Optical observations of terrestrial lightning by the FORTE satellite photodiode detector journal December 2001
Coincident radio frequency and optical emissions from lightning, observed with the FORTE satellite journal November 2001
Simulations of lightning optical waveforms as seen through clouds by satellites journal August 2001
True color earth data set includes seasonal dynamics journal January 2006
Simultaneously measured current, luminosity, and electric field pulses in a rocket-triggered lightning flash journal January 2011
Relative detection efficiency of the World Wide Lightning Location Network: RELATIVE DETECTION EFFICIENCY OF WWLLN journal December 2012
Initial Geostationary Lightning Mapper Observations journal January 2019
Mapping the Lateral Development of Lightning Flashes From Orbit journal September 2018
The Time Evolution of Optical Lightning Flashes journal December 2018
Global Distribution of Superbolts journal September 2019
Research Applications for the Geostationary Lightning Mapper Operational Lightning Flash Data Product journal September 2019
Changes to the Appearance of Optical Lightning Flashes Observed From Space According to Thunderstorm Organization and Structure journal February 2020
Geostationary Lightning Mapper Clustering Algorithm Stability journal February 2020
New World Meteorological Organization Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance (709 km) and Duration (16.73 s) Recorded From Space journal August 2020
Diffusion model for lightning radiative transfer journal January 1994
Detection of lightning superbolts journal June 1977
The optical and radiation field signatures produced by lightning return strokes journal January 1982
Correlated peak relative light intensity and peak current in triggered lightning subsequent return strokes journal January 1985
Removing solar artifacts from Geostationary Lightning Mapper data to document lightning extremes journal February 2020
The Effects of Clouds on the Light Produced by Lightning journal September 1982
A Closer Look at the ABI on the GOES-R Series journal April 2017
Megaflashes: Just How Long Can a Lightning Discharge Get? journal October 2019
GLD360 Performance Relative to TRMM LIS journal June 2017
Performance Assessment of the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), Using the Los Alamos Sferic Array (LASA) as Ground Truth journal August 2006
Thunderstorm Cloud-Type Classification from Space-Based Lightning Imagers journal May 2020

Similar Records

The Hazards Posed by Mesoscale Lightning Megaflashes
Journal Article · Thu Dec 31 19:00:00 EST 2020 · Earth Interactions · OSTI ID:1822780
Making a Superbolt: Reconciling Observations of the Optically Brightest Lightning on Earth From Different Satellites
Journal Article · Thu Aug 17 20:00:00 EDT 2023 · Earth and Space Science · OSTI ID:2432311

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Earth Sciences
GLM
GOES
lightning
satellite
superbolts