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Description
GOES-16, -17, -18, and -19 satellites provide total lightning flash data over the Western Hemisphere from December 31, 2017 to present. The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is the first operational geostationary optical lightning detector, capturing in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-ground flashes. Data is gridded and delivered in netCDF-4 format.
Use Cases
Severe weather nowcasting based on real-time lightning flash density grids.
Climate trend analysis of lightning activity using the multi-year time series from 2017 onward.
Validating ground-based lightning detection networks using the geostationary satellite perspective.
Studying atmospheric convection initiation and intensity based on total lightning flash rates.
Strengths
Provides continuous, hemispheric-scale data from the first operational geostationary lightning mapper.
Offers a long-term record starting on December 31, 2017, supporting climatological studies.
Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and reliability.
Limitations
The GLM instrument cannot distinguish between in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-ground flash types.
Column names and specific data structure details are not provided in the available metadata.
Conflicting license information exists between sources ('other-license-specified' vs. 'None').
Provenance
Source
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) GOES program.
Collection Method
Collected by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument onboard the GOES-R series satellites (GOES-16, -17, -18, -19).
Time Range
December 31, 2017 to present (ongoing).
Freshness
Last updated on Data.gov: 2026-04-10.
Geography
Full disk extent over the Western Hemisphere.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified' on some sources but 'None' on others; users should verify terms before use. Data is in netCDF-4 format.