NASA released the first images from a satellite lightning detector
NASA released the first images taken by the weather satellite GOES-16 with built-in lightning detector.
Pictures were taken three months after the launch of the satellite from Cape Canaveral on 19 November 2016. The satellite was carried out testing of the systems and survey the solar activity.
Currently, meteorologists have several tools that allow you to predict approaching storm front.
These include air and ground weather radars, and meteorological satellites. However, these systems are not always able to see the beginning of a thunderstorm, especially if it occurs at the remote point over the ocean.
The satellite GOES-16 system equipped with a GLM (Geostationary Lightning Mapper geostationary lightning mapping). The satellite is in a geostationary orbit at a height of 35.9 thousand kilometers. Detector on the spacecraft to continuously monitor thunderstorms in the Western hemisphere.
GLM is able to capture all kinds of thunderstorm activity, including atmospheric discharges occurring between clouds
Optical radiation of lightning recorded by a detector and converted to kilowatt-hours. Then, the data are combined with the results of another optical system GOES-16, responsible for the shooting of clouds.
Researchers believe that derived from the satellite images will allow with high accuracy to predict the spread of a storm front, especially over arid areas, where lightning strikes often result in fires. Finally, the satellite will make more accurate weather forecasts to Navy and air force.
At the end of December last year, climate scientists from the U.S. and Brazil published the results of 16 years of satellite observations of thunderstorms on Earth.
According to the study, a record for the number of lightning strikes was lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. There is a storm developing in the average of 297 days per year. The average frequency of lightning strikes there can reach several tens of thousands of times a year, or about 90 lightning a day.
In their work, scientists pointed out 500 areas of Land where the frequency of lightning strikes greater than 50 strikes per year per square meter. Almost half of these places are located in Africa, with a peak frequency in the basin of the Congo. Additionally, lightning strikes often occur in coastal areas of Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Vasily Sychev