Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center Begins Daily Distribution of North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array Data

The Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC) recently began daily processing and distribution of data from the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA). NALMA provides regional three-dimensional mapping of lightning channels by measuring the differential times of arrival of their Very High Frequency (VHF) emissions. NALMA has been in place since 2001, supporting validation of spaceborne lightning observations from the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). However, before June 2021 daily processed data were not routinely available to the scientific community, and had to be specifically requested from the NALMA team. The daily data distribution came just in time for the recent spate of local thunderstorms, an example of which is shown in the figure below. Timothy Lang (ST11) is the scientific lead for NALMA, while Manil Maskey (ST11) manages the GHRC. Matt Wingo (UAH) is the NALMA operations lead. Shannon Flynn, Michael McEniry, and Sherry Harrison (all UAH) supported the transition of routine NALMA processing to the GHRC.

NALMA daily processed data are available from the following link: https://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/hydro/details/nalma.

NALMA Lightning Array

Figure . Three-dimensional LMA source density from 2030-2040 UTC on 12 June 2021. In the relevant subpanels, the color scale is relative with low density blue and high-density red. (a) Time-height. (b) Longitude-height. (c) Source altitude histogram. (d) Plan view. The white diamonds are NALMA station locations, and the dashed blue circle is 100 km range from network center. (e) Latitude-height.

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