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Full catalog/glmgoesL3
glmgoesL3·v1·dataset

Mapped lightning flashes from a weather satellite (GOES-R)

GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) Gridded Data Products
atmosphere NASA GHRC_DAAC Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Maps of lightning flashes across the Western Hemisphere, counting total lightning (inside clouds, between clouds, and cloud-to-ground) laid out on a grid. It detects all these flash types but cannot tell them apart.

How it's made. Gathered by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper aboard the GOES-R weather satellites, which watch the same area continuously, then gridded into a Level 3 product.

How & where you'd use it. Helps track storms and severe weather in near-real time across the Americas, since lightning activity signals intensifying thunderstorms.

What's measured

Atmosphere › Atmospheric Electricity › Lightning

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2023-04-14 → ongoing
  • Measured byGOES-16 · GOES-17 · GOES-18 (GLM) · GOES-19 (GLM)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent162.9, -57, -76.2, 57
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) Gridded Data Products consist of full disk extent gridded lightning flash data collected by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on board each of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites R-Series (GOES-R). These satellites are a part of the GOES-R series program: a four-satellite series within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) GOES program. These are GOES-16, -17, -18, and -19. Currently, GOES-18 and GOES-19 are the active satellites. GLM is the first operational geostationary optical lightning detector that provides total lightning data (in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-ground flashes). While it detects each of these types of lightning, the GLM is unable to distinguish between each type. The GLM GOES L3 dataset files contain gridded lightning flash data over the Western Hemisphere in netCDF-4 format from April 14, 2023 to present as this is an ongoing dataset.

Get the data

glmgoesl3_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="glmgoesL3",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from GHRC_DAAC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.