Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/goesrpltcolma
goesrpltcolma·v1·dataset

Lightning strike mapping in Colorado (GOES-R study)

GOES-R PLT Colorado Lightning Mapping Array (LMA)
atmosphere NASA GHRC_DAAC Level 1B ASCII
In plain English

What it measures. Three-dimensional maps of total lightning activity over Colorado—pinpointing where and when lightning discharges occurred, including in-cloud flashes—during spring 2017.

How it's made. Produced by a ground-based Lightning Mapping Array, a network of stations that times the radio bursts from lightning at each site to triangulate the discharge locations in 3D.

How & where you'd use it. Gathered to help validate the satellite-based Geostationary Lightning Mapper after the GOES-R launch, and useful for studying storm electrification and lightning behavior.

What's measured

Atmosphere › Atmospheric Electricity › Lightning

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2017-03-01 → 2017-05-31
  • Measured byGROUND STATIONS (LMA)
  • Processing levelLevel 1B
  • Spatial extent-104.647, 40.4364, -104.627, 40.4564
  • FormatsASCII
  • StatusCOMPLETE

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 PLT Colorado Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) dataset consists of total lightning data measured from the Colorado LMA (COLMA) network during the GOES-R Post Launch Test (PLT) airborne science field campaign. The GOES-R PLT airborne science field campaign took place in support of the post-launch product validation of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The LMA measures the arrival time of radiation from a lightning discharge at multiple stations and locates the sources of radiation to produce a three-dimensional map of total lightning activity. These data files are available in compressed ASCII files and are available from March 1, 2017 through May 31, 2017.

Get the data

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="goesrpltcolma",
    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.