CAMEX-4 Aircraft Measurements of Storm Electric Fields and Lightning

CAMEX-4 ER-2 Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) dataset contains vector electric field and air conductivity measurements collected by an ER-2 aircraft during the CAMEX-4 field campaign. The dataset enables identification of total lightning events and derivation of storm electric currents. It is hosted by the GHRC DAAC.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the three-dimensional electric field vector (Ex, Ey, Ez) within and around storms.
• Identifying total lightning events (cloud-to-ground and intracloud) from abrupt electric field changes.
• Calculating storm electric currents by combining electric field and air conductivity measurements.
• Studying the electrical structure of storms overflown by the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft.
• Investigating air conductivity variations at aircraft flight altitude during different meteorological conditions.

Strengths

• Measures electric field components over a wide dynamic range, from fair weather (tens of V/m) to thunderstorm fields (tens of kV/m).
• Provides vector electric field data, improving knowledge of the three-dimensional electrical structure of storms.
• Dataset is available on multiple platforms (NASA EarthData and Data.gov), indicating established curation and importance.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2001-09-25 vs. 2026-03-13), creating uncertainty about maintenance.

Provenance

Source

GHRC_DAAC

Collection Method

Data collected in-situ by the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) onboard the ER-2 high-altitude aircraft during the CAMEX-4 field campaign.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03-13 04:58:43.480618

Geography

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