Elvia H. Thompson<br />Headquarters, Washington June 19, 2003<br />(Phone: 202/358-1696)<br /><br /><br />Rob Gutro<br />Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<br />(Phone: 301/286-4044)<br /><br /><br />RELEASE: 03-202<br /><br /><br />NASA RESEARCH HELPS HIGHLIGHT LIGHTNING SAFETY AWARENESS <br />WEEK <br /><br /><br /> The arrival of summer brings increased chances of <br />thunderstorms and dangerous lightning. NASA marks National <br />Lightning Safety Awareness Week, June 22-29, by highlighting <br />the unique contributions agency lightning research makes to <br />climate studies, severe storm detection and prediction.<br /><br /><br />Lightning is dangerous, so improving our understanding of it <br />and its role in weather and climate is important. NASA <br />researchers at the National Space Science and Technology <br />Center in Huntsville, Ala., created lightning maps that show <br />where and how much lightning strikes worldwide. This data is <br />important to climatologists, because lightning indicates the <br />location of large storms that release latent heat; the "fuel <br />supply" that helps drive the Earth's climate "engine." <br /><br /><br />Steven Goodman, Dennis Boccippio, Richard Blakeslee, Hugh <br />Christian, and William Koshak from NASA's Marshall Space <br />Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., helped create a high-<br />resolution world map showing the frequency of lightning <br />strikes. The lightning science team recently presented the <br />animated lightning maps and 11 technical papers at the 12th <br />International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, <br />Versailles, France.<br /><br /><br />Goodman said the global lightning maps are "animated maps of <br />lightning activity worldwide, and have just been updated to <br />include eight years of data." The maps are color coded to <br />indicate concentrations of lightning strikes. Each frame <br />represents average lightning activity on each day of the <br />year. These data, compiled from space-based optical sensors, <br />reveal the uneven distribution of worldwide lightning <br />strikes, and the maps provide a unique look at climate <br />information. They also show where lightning activity <br />increased and decreased during the recent El Nino event. <br /><br /><br />The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's <br />National Weather Service's regional forecast offices in <br />Alabama have been using NASA's North Alabama Lightning <br />Mapping Array since November 2001. The data have helped to <br />characterize thunderstorm initiation, identify weakening and <br />strengthening storms by the change in the rate of flashes, <br />and evaluate the trend of the flash rate to improve severe <br />storm detection and lead-time. Understanding lightning has <br />the potential to improve severe storm warning lead-time by <br />up to 50 percent and decrease the false alarm rate for non-<br />tornado producing storms.<br /><br /><br />NASA's lightning research is also being applied to aviation <br />safety. NASA technology is helping aviators avoid <br />turbulence, over offshore areas, by using surface lightning <br />measurements and combining them with satellite lightning <br />data and other measurements. <br /><br /><br />According to the National Weather Service, lightning kills <br />an average of 73 people annually in the United States. <br />Lightning kills more people than hurricanes or tornadoes. <br />William Valine and Phillip Krider, two NASA-funded <br />scientists from the University of Arizona, discovered <br />lightning frequently strikes the ground in two or more <br />places. This means the risk of being struck by lightning is <br />45 percent higher than previously thought.<br /><br /><br />NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, which funds lightning <br />research, is dedicated to understanding the Earth as an <br />integrated system and applying Earth System Science to <br />improve prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards <br />using the unique vantage point of space.<br /><br /><br />For more information and lightning images see:<br /><br /><br />Marshall Space Flight Center World Lightning Maps:<br />http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/NSSTC/news/photos/2002/ph<br />otosN02-001.html<br /><br /><br />New Marshall Space Flight Center Lightning Animations:<br />http://thunder.nsstc.nasa.gov/images/LISOTD_ClimTS_F_Anim.mo<br />v.<br /><br /><br />Lightning Really Does Strike More Than Twice: <br />http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/0107lightning.html<br /><br /><br />National Weather Service Lightning Safety:<br />http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/<br /><br /><br />Kennedy Space Center Lightning and the Space Program:<br />http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/nasafact/lightnin.htm