Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
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
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
