By placing lightning sensors in space, we obtain measurements over a greater portion of the Earth, proving many times more data than if using only ground-based or airborne sensors. Most ground-based and airborne lightning sensors are only capable of detecting cloud-to-ground lightning, which is known to make up only about 25% of all lighting activity. In addition, ground sensors can only detect activity over land, and airborne sensors have a limited observation time and space. With the use of space-based lightning sensors, we can now measure all forms of lightning over both land and sea, 24 hours a day.

Observations from instruments such as the Optical Transient Detector (OTD), the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) have allowed for development of a global database of lightning activity. Such information has proven useful for severe storm detection and analysis and for lightning-atmosphere interaction studies.