Aircraft Lightning Field Measurements for Atlantic Snowstorms

Electrical field measurements of lightning and navigation data collected by the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) onboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft during the IMPACTS field campaign. This dataset covers three winter seasons from January 15, 2020, to March 2, 2023, studying snowstorms over the U.S. Atlantic coast. The V2 release includes filtered data to correct field mill offsets identified in the prior version.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the correlation between lightning activity and snowband formation using electrical field time-series data.
• Studying the spatial distribution of atmospheric electricity during coastal snowstorms using aircraft navigation coordinates.
• Validating and improving remote sensing algorithms and numerical weather prediction models for snowfall.
• Investigating microphysical growth mechanisms of snow particles within storm systems where lightning is detected.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated three-year NASA field campaign (IMPACTS) with a clear scientific mission.
• Dataset represents a Version 2 (V2) product with corrections applied to remove identified field mill offsets.
• Time-series coverage spans multiple winter seasons from 2020 to 2023, allowing for inter-annual comparison.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the license (other-license-specified vs. None) and the last update date (2026 vs. 2023).

Provenance

Source

NASA ER-2 aircraft Lightning Instrument Package (LIP), processed by GHRC_DAAC.

Collection Method

Airborne in-situ measurements collected during the IMPACTS field campaign.

Time Range

2020-01-15 to 2023-03-02

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:09:34.283796

Geography

U.S. Atlantic coast region.