Lightning … from above!

No, you are above the lightning for a change.

I found this at APOD.  Very cool.

Explanation: Watch a huge lightning storm move across the eastern USA. The huge storm caused much damage and unfortunately some loss of life for people in its path. Seen from space, the lightning is seen as momentary flashes in the featured time-lapse video recorded last month by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the GOES-16 satellite. The outline of North America is most evident during the day, while the bright lightning strikes are most evident at night. Inspection of the video shows that much of the lightning occurred at the leading edge of the huge tail of the swirling storm. Because lightning frequently precedes a storm’s most violent impact, lightning data from GLM holds promise to help reduce the harm to humans from future storms.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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2 Comments

  1. Semper Gumby says:

    Too cool. Read last week (it was on the NOAA website or UW-Madison CIMSS) that this new GOES-16 satellite will spot forest fires- and even hot spots- much better than the GOES-13.

    If I recall, not only is the infrared much improved on the -16, but it can scan (once fully operational) every 30 seconds compared to 15+ minutes for the -13. A side-by-side imagery sample of Florida showed nothing on the -13 but about three hotspots on the -16. Nifty.

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