Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
On January 23, 2024, NOAA’s GOES-U satellite arrived in Florida for final preparations for its upcoming launch. GOES-U is the final satellite in the GOES-R Series.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Additional GOES-U footage courtesy of Lockheed Martin.
Music: “The Worm” by Tom Sue [GEMA] and Zac Singer [GEMA]; Berlin Production Music; Universal Production Music
On January 23, 2024, NOAA’s GOES-U satellite arrived in Florida for final preparations for its upcoming launch. GOES-U is the final satellite in the GOES-R Series.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Additional GOES-U footage courtesy of Lockheed Martin.
Music: “The Worm” by Tom Sue [GEMA] and Zac Singer [GEMA]; Berlin Production Music; Universal Production Music
![Earth from Orbit: Catching Bolides
On Jan. 1, 2022, just before 11:30 am local time, there were numerous citizen and media reports (as well as many emergency calls to 911) describing multiple sonic booms heard in southwestern Pennsylvania. The area was cloudy at the time, but the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) onboard the GOES East satellite detected the likely source of the sounds—a bolide, or large meteor exploding in the atmosphere. NWS Pittsburgh tweeted out a GLM image to explain the event, which was used in local, national, and international media coverage.
A nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart, and the data enabled NASA to estimate the energy was similar to 30 tons of TNT. Additionally, they estimated the size to be about a yard in diameter, with a mass close to half a ton. Had it not been cloudy, the fireball would have been easily visible in the daylight sky—estimates indicate it was about 100 times the brightness of the full moon.
While designed for mapping lightning flashes, the GOES-R GLM can observe large meteors anywhere throughout its coverage area. The instrument takes 500 images of Earth every second, allowing it to measure the shape of a meteor’s light curve, or the change in brightness of a meteor with time, with millisecond precision. In order for GLM to detect these flashes, the bolides need to be as bright as the full moon. Due to this, the instrument is also able to pick up the signals of meteors in Earths atmosphere.
The loud “booms” with no visible source can cause a lot of anxiety, especially in populated areas. The National Weather Service (NWS) and broadcast meteorologists have begun using GLM data to quickly confirm the source and notify citizens to calm their fears.
Read more: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/earth-orbit-catching-bolides
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Credits:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Stock footage:
MountAiryFilms/Pond5
Music:
“Shooting Stars,” by Adam Dawson [PRS] & Adam Thomas Rustidge [PRS]; Ninja Tune Production Music; Universal Production Music Earth from Orbit: Catching Bolides](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l5XBVVnEosE/mqdefault.jpg)

![NOAA Shares Flashy First Imagery from GOES-18 Lightning Mapper
The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument, onboard NOAA’s GOES-18 satellite, is now providing striking lightning observations of the Western Hemisphere. GOES-18 launched on March 1, 2022.
GLM detects and maps total lightning—in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-ground—continuously over the Americas and adjacent ocean regions. GLM offers insights beyond the presence of a lightning strike, revealing the extent of lightning flashes and the distance they travel.
Rapid increases in total lightning activity often precede severe and tornadic thunderstorms. Characterizing lightning activity in storms allows forecasters to identify intensifying storms before they produce damaging winds, hail or tornadoes. GLM data enable forecasters to detect electrically active storms, determine the extent of the lightning threat, identify strengthening and weakening storms, monitor storm evolution, and supplement radar data where coverage is poor.
Learn more:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaa-shares-flashy-first-imagery-goes-18-lightning-mapper
Credits:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Lockheed Martin
CISESS - UMD
Los Alamos National Laboratory
B-roll provided by Artbeats
Music:
“Is It A Sine,” by Frederick George Alan Prest [PRS]; Ninja Tune Production Music; Universal Production Music NOAA Shares Flashy First Imagery from GOES-18 Lightning Mapper](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lgvz4_qG7i8/mqdefault.jpg)

![Violent Storms Tear Through the South
Severe storms that began rolling through the southern U.S. on Friday, March 24, 2023 left a path of devastation from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic through March 28, which included high winds, hail, flooding, and tornadoes.
Read more:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/violent-storms-tear-through-the-south
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Additional imagery courtesy of CIMSS and SSEC
Music:
“At the Tipping Point” by Alexius Tschallener [SUISA], Max Burn [SUISA] and Sarah Tanner [SUISA]; Nuvotone Publishing; Universal Production Music Violent Storms Tear Through the South](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/m-0U8PV99m4/mqdefault.jpg)

![2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season Wraps Up
NOAA satellites constantly monitor the ocean for tropical activity. As the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close on Nov. 30, we’re looking back at its above-average activity, with a record breaking ramp up following a peak-season lull.
So far, eighteen tropical depressions have formed, and all of them were named storms. Eleven storms became hurricanes, of which five strengthened into major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale). Of those storms, five made landfall in the continental U.S., with two making landfall as major hurricanes. Although the season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, tropical and subtropical cyclone formation can occur at any time.
Read more:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/2024-atlantic-hurricane-season-wraps
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Music: “Memory” by William Kingswood [ASCAP]; Killer Tracks; Universal Production Music 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season Wraps Up](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mOC8HaDECq8/mqdefault.jpg)

![More Heavy Rain, Snow, and Wind Hitting Western U.S.
After tracking round after round of atmospheric rivers dropping heavy rain across the West Coast this year, NOAA satellites observed a new atmospheric river that began impacting the water-logged state on March 19, 2023.
Read more:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/more-heavy-rain-snow-and-wind-hitting-western-us
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Flood map imagery courtesy of SSEC.
Music:
“Mirage” by Ben Niblett [PRS] and Jonathan David Cotton [PRS]; Chappell Recorded Music Library Ltd; Universal Production Music More Heavy Rain, Snow, and Wind Hitting Western U.S.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nEW3khV1-Pc/mqdefault.jpg)

![NOAA Releases Initial Imagery from the GOES-19 Lightning Mapper
The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument, onboard NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite, is now continuously observing lightning over the Western Hemisphere. GOES-19 launched on June 25, 2024. GLM detects and maps total lightning—in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-ground—continuously over the Americas and adjacent ocean regions. GLM offers insights beyond the presence of a lightning strike, revealing the spatial and temporal extent of lightning flashes.
Recently, the GOES-19 GLM detected and monitored lightning activity in two extremely hazardous hurricanes. On Sept. 24, 2024, GLM observed widespread lightning as a cluster of thunderstorms in the western Caribbean Sea consolidated into Tropical Storm Helene. Continuous lightning in the outer rain bands was accompanied by occasional eyewall lightning, as Hurricane Helene rapidly intensified in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Frequent lightning completely enveloped the eyewall as the storm intensified further on its final approach to the Florida coastline. Away from the storm center, GLM helped identify the most intense thunderstorms most likely to produce tornadoes.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Lockheed Martin
CISESS - UMD
B-roll provided by Artbeats
Music:
“Movimento” by Max Cameron Concors [ASCAP]; Hypersonic Music; Universal Production Music NOAA Releases Initial Imagery from the GOES-19 Lightning Mapper](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ngn7rpqaw5E/mqdefault.jpg)