Overview - Geostationary Lightning Mapper

This forum supports Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) implementation and training, providing tools for learning about the GLM capabilities and limitations, exploring applications, understanding data quality, discovering new research, and addressing inquiries.  

The GLM continuously observes lightning throughout a near hemispheric field of view, capturing spatiotemporal variability on unprecedented scales (Rudlosky et al. 2019).  As a high-frame-rate camera that detects light pulses at cloud tops, the GLM differs from the ground-based lightning detection networks most familiar to NWS forecasters.  Thus, focused research, development, and training efforts are required to guide the operational application of these data.  A gridded product suite (Bruning et al. 2019) and associated AWIPS configurations were implemented to provide GLM information to forecasters (Sima 2020).  

Please follow the navigation tabs above to explore training documents, product descriptions, imagery examples, refereed literature, and additional commentary.  Near real time imagery is available at http://col.st/haYgj, and http://col.st/WtVLp, https://www.weathernerds.org/satellite/, https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/, and https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/index.php.  Additional information available at https://lightning.umd.edu/glm/.