Lightning Flash Rate Climatology from TRMM Satellite

Tropical and subtropical regions are covered by this gridded monthly climatology of total lightning flash rates, derived from the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) aboard the TRMM satellite. The dataset spans 16 years from 1998 to 2013 and provides annual mean, diurnal cycle, and annual cycle statistics at a 0.1-degree spatial resolution. It was produced and hosted by NASA's Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC).

Use Cases

• Analyzing the mean diurnal cycle of lightning flash rates using the 24-hour resolution data.
• Mapping the spatial distribution and variability of annual mean flash rates across the tropics.
• Studying seasonal lightning patterns using the monthly or seasonal resolution annual cycle data with applied smoothing.
• Investigating long-term climatological trends in lightning activity over the 1998-2013 period.
• Conducting severe storm detection and analysis by correlating lightning flash rates with other meteorological data.

Strengths

• Provides a 16-year continuous record from 1998 to 2013, enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Offers high 0.1-degree spatial resolution for detailed geographic analysis of lightning patterns.
• Includes multiple processed climatologies: annual mean, diurnal cycle, and annual cycle with daily to seasonal resolution.
• Applies 49-day and 1-degree boxcar moving averages to key products to reduce noise and smooth low-flash-rate regions.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to the Earth's tropical and subtropical regions observed by the TRMM satellite.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one source lists a last update date of 2026-03 13, while another lists 2013-12-31, suggesting potential discrepancies in maintenance records.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source platform.

Provenance

Source

Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) instrument on the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite, processed by GHRC DAAC.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing detection of total lightning flashes, gridded and averaged into monthly climatologies.

Time Range

1998-01-01 to 2013-12-31

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:56:06.831950

Geography

Earth's tropical and subtropical regions.