In support of the recent public and scientific interest surrounding coverage of Hurricane Florence, ESSIC/CICS-MD senior faculty specialist Patrick Meyers prepared a small video of associated storm lightning as recorded by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The animation, subsequently disseminated via NOAA social media channels was later included in a tweet by President Donald Trump, announcing support for those who might be affected by Hurricane Florence.
In just a few hours, the tweet garnered over 11,000 retweets, 50,000 likes, and almost 2 million views. Scott Rudlosky*, the project lead for the development of gridded GLM products at CICS-MD, later tweeted that it “might be the most viewed GLM report ever”.
The Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites at the University of Maryland (CICS-MD) is supporting NOAA forecasters with the implementation of the GLM, a first-of-its-kind sensor aboard a NOAA satellite. Detecting lightning flashes from space, the instrument provides valuable information to forecasters and decision makers alike on the internal dynamics of strong storm systems, including potential intensification.
Meyers is an ESSIC / CICS-MD senior faculty specialist that works primarily with improving satellite rainfall retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM). At ESSIC, he evaluates and develops algorithms for passive microwave retrievals of geophysical parameters, particularly precipitation rates over land.
To view Donald Trump’s tweet, click here. For more information on the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, click here to read a recent ESSIC feature outlining its significance.
*Rudlosky is a SCSB/STAR/NESDIS/NOAA visiting associate research scientist working in collaboration with ESSIC/CICS-MD.
