June 21, 2004
NASA Research Helps Highlight Lightning Safety Awareness Week
NASA will mark National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, June 20-26,
through unique contributions its lightning research makes to climate
studies, and severe storm detection and prediction. NASA research is
striving to improve our understanding of lightning and its role in weather
and climate.
Scientists are seeking information that may someday help forecasters
save lives by improving severe storm warning lead-time by up to 50 percent.
They are also interested in decreasing the false alarm rate for non-tornado
producing storms.
One such tool researchers are using is the North Alabama Lightning Mapping
Array, currently used by the National Weather Service’s regional
forecast offices in Alabama. This NASA system helps forecasters monitor
the weakening and strengthening of storms to identify those likely to
produce severe weather. These efforts could improve severe storm detection
and lead-time.
NASA researchers at the National Space Science and Technology Center
in Huntsville, Ala., created lightning maps that show where and how much
lightning strikes worldwide. These data are important to climatologists,
since lightning indicates the location of large storms that release latent
heat; the “fuel supply” that helps drive the Earth’s
climate “engine.”
Researchers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in
Huntsville, Ala., have gathered, studied and analyzed lightning data
from virtually all vantage points, seeking a better understanding of
this powerful force of nature. Some of their most promising efforts involve
gathering lightning data from space. Advances in satellite technology
have already aided efforts to monitor severe weather.
“Sharp, rich pictures of the ever-changing atmosphere are now
available to forecasters in near real-time thanks to sensors aboard NASA’s
newest climate research satellites, Terra and Aqua,” said Dr. Richard
Blakeslee of MSFC.
A new activity — known as Short-term Prediction Research and Transition,
or SpoRT — uses data from a sensor called MODIS, or Moderate-resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer, aboard these satellites. MODIS gleans between
16 and 100 times more detail than comparable instruments aboard current
weather satellites, giving researchers a head start in incorporating
highly detailed data into weather forecasts.
“We’re looking to future satellites to provide an even more
comprehensive view of lightning,” Blakeslee added. For example,
the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-R, a National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, is scheduled to launch
in 2012. Among its proposed instruments is a lightning mapper that could
observe lightning continually over the United States.
In the United States an average of 67 people are killed each year by
lightning. In 2003, there were 44 deaths. That’s more than the
annual number of people killed by tornadoes or hurricanes. Many more
are struck by lightening but survive with adverse health affects.
NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise, which funds lightning research,
is dedicated to understanding the Earth as an integrated system and applying
Earth System Science to improve prediction of climate, weather and natural
hazards using the unique vantage point of space.
Lightning Fatalities, Injuries and Damage By State 1959-1994 (Source: National Weather Service)
| Alabama |
296 |
| Alaska |
NA |
| Arizona |
164 |
| Arkansas |
355 |
| California |
79 |
| Colorado |
394 |
| Connecticut |
88 |
| Delaware |
42 |
| Florida |
1523 |
| Georgia |
410 |
| Hawaii |
NA |
| Idaho |
87 |
| Illinois |
360 |
| Indiana |
238 |
| Iowa |
227 |
| Kansas |
234 |
| Kentucky |
278 |
| Louisiana |
347 |
| Maine |
126 |
| Maryland |
250 |
| Massachusetts |
355 |
| Michigan |
732 |
| Minnesota |
169 |
| Mississippi |
295 |
| Missouri |
176 |
| Montana |
64 |
| Nebraska |
111 |
| Nevada |
18 |
| New Hampshire |
76 |
| New Jersey |
185 |
| New Mexico |
249 |
| New York |
577 |
| North Carolina |
629 |
| North Dakota |
35 |
| Ohio |
545 |
| Oklahoma |
331 |
| Oregon |
26 |
| Pennsylvania |
644 |
| Rhode Island |
49 |
| South Carolina |
306 |
| South Dakota |
79 |
| Tennessee |
473 |
| Texas |
498 |
| Utah |
116 |
| Vermont |
30 |
| Virginia |
235 |
| Washington |
40 |
| West Virginia |
108 |
| Wisconsin |
241 |
| Wyoming |
104 |
For information and lightning images on the Internet, visit:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/ 0621lightning.html
For information about NASA’s World Lightning Maps on the Internet,
visit:
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/NSSTC/ news/photos/2002/photosN02-001.html
For information about National Weather Service Lightning Safety on the
Internet, visit:
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/
###
Contacts:
David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
Phone: 202/358-1730
Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Phone: 301/286-4044
Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Hunstville, Ala.
Phone: 256/544-6535 |
|
Lightning Strikes!
In the United States an average of 67 people are killed each year by
lightning. In 2003, there were 44 deaths. That’s more than the
annual number of people killed by tornadoes or hurricanes. This is a
photograph of multiple cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strokes
caught using time-lapse photography during a night-time thunderstorm.
CREDIT: NOAA Photo Library OAR/ERL/NSSL
Worldwide Lightning Strikes
Imaging Sensor (LIS) Science Team Data from space-based optical sensors
reveal the uneven distribution of worldwide lightning strikes, with color
variations indicating the average annual number of lightning flashes
per square kilometer. The map includes data obtained from April 1995
to February 2003 from NASA’s Optical Transient Detector; and from
January 1998 to February 2003 from NASA’s Lightning Imaging Sensor
(LIS). CREDIT: NASA MSFC Lightning
Lightning Views from Space
There are more than 2,000 thunderstorms taking place around the world
at any given instant. This view was taken aboard the space shuttle. Scientists
have a variety of tools for studying lightning including satellites,
weather balloons, airplanes, and computer models. Better lightning predictions
could improve public safety and benefit construction companies, amusement
parks and utilities. CREDIT: NASA/MSFC
(Table at Left)
Lightning Fatalities, Injuries, Damages by State
This is a list of lightning casualties across the contiguous United States
between 1959 and 1994. It was created by the National Weather Service
from lightning reports on fatalities, injuries and damages across the
United States over that time period. Florida stands out as the state
with the most fatalities at 1,523 over the 35 year period. Pennsylvania,
North Carolina, New York and Texas are the states with the next largest
numbers of fatalities. Alaska and Hawaii reported no lightning-related
deaths over that period. CREDIT: National Weather Service |
