Global Lightning Flash Rate Monthly Climatology Time Series

1995 to 2014 monthly gridded climatologies of total lightning flash rates derived from two satellite-based sensors, the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) and Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS). The dataset provides a merged, long-term record, with robust tropical and subtropical coverage from LIS and high-latitude data from OTD. It is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and is available in formats including BIN, ISO, HTML, and PDF.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal and interannual variability of lightning flash rates using the monthly time series.
• Mapping regional differences in lightning activity between tropics and high latitudes using the gridded 2.5-degree data.
• Correlating long-term lightning climatology with other atmospheric parameters for climate model validation.
• Studying the contribution of different sensor records (LIS vs. OTD) to merged global lightning estimates.

Strengths

• Provides a merged, long-term record from two complementary satellite sensors, LIS and OTD.
• Offers robust coverage in the tropics and subtropics due to the long LIS record equatorward of about 38 degrees.
• Dataset is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (Data.gov and NASA Earthdata), indicating vetting and importance.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates: Data.gov lists 2026-03-13 (likely a placeholder), while NASA Earthdata lists 2015-04-08.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column structures are not provided by any source.
• High-latitude data is entirely from the OTD sensor, which may have different characteristics than the LIS record.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Observations from the spaceborne Optical Transient Detector (OTD) on Orbview-1 and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the TRMM satellite.

Time Range

1995 to 2014

Freshness

2015-04-08

Geography

Global, gridded at 2.5-degree resolution.