Lightning Locating Systems: History, Methods, and their Roles in Meteorological Applications (Core Science Keynote)

Since the establishment of the first U.S. national-scale lightning detection networks in the late 1980’s, lightning information has steadily grown in value and use in meteorological applications. Today, this is exemplified by the by the broad use of multiple lightning datasets by industry and weather-service forecasters, as well as by hundreds of research scientists.  The ultimate expression of the importance of this information is the inclusion of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) as one of the central instruments on the upcoming GOES-R series of satellites, with first launch to occur in late 2016.

This presentation will provide an overview of lightning locating systems from the perspectives of the physical processed that are observed, detection and geo-location methodologies, validation techniques and results, and user applications. The presentation will address both ground-based and space-based systems. Although meteorological uses will be the central theme, other key applications will be discussed in order to provide a better understanding of the varied performance-related needs and uses of lightning data. These applications will be also discussed in terms of the complimentary nature of lightning information when coupled with other lightning and non-lightning systems and observations.