On Oct. 26th, the CISESS Lightning Team— ESSIC/CISESS scientists Mason Quick, Jonathan Wynn Smith, and Daile Zhang— went to the Mid-Atlantic ChaserCon in Richmond, Virginia. The conference was a forum for National Weather Service meteorologists, broadcast meteorologists, storm chasers and other professional and amateur meteorologists across the Mid-Atlantic area to network and discuss local severe storms.
During the event, meteorologists promoted ideas to raise public awareness of severe weather. The Lightning Team informed meteorologists of the use, the value, and where to obtain the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) gridded products. The meteorologists spoke highly of the operational GLM data as an instrument that continuously observes lightning activity, tracks thunderstorms, and improved severe weather forecasting and nowcasting. Their positive feedback is also helpful for the lightning team to better serve the community.
ESSIC/CISESS Visiting Assistant Research Scientist Mason Quick conducts research in atmospheric physics with a focus on atmospheric electricity using a variety of remote sensing tools and data products. He works alongside Visiting Assistant Research Scientist Jonathan Wynn Smith to support the integration of Geostationary Lightning Mapper gridded products to National Weather Service (NWS) operations. Daile Zhang is an ESSIC/CISESS Postdoctoral Associate focusing on evaluating and assessing space-based lightning sensors such as the GLM on GOES-16 and 17.
