The GHRC DAAC has published the “LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Climatology Data Collection” (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/LIS/LIS/DATA304), comprising five datasets:
LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Full Climatology (VHRFC)
LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Monthly Climatology (VHRMC)
LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Diurnal Climatology (VHRDC)
LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Annual Climatology (VHRAC)
LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Seasonal Climatology (VHRSC)
These datasets, developed by Dr. Rachel Albrecht of the University of Sao Paulo, provide gridded climatologies of total lightning flash rates seen by the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), and are an evolution of the LIS/OTD low resolution and high resolution lightning climatologies already at the GHRC DAAC (collection DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.5067/LIS/LIS-OTD/DATA311). Their very high spatial resolution (0.1°) allows more precise identification of lightning hotspots. Dr. Albrecht’s analysis of these data revealing that the Earth's principal lightning hotspot occurs over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela has been featured in news items by the American Meteorological Society and LiveScience. Interactive visualizations of these datasets and the top 500 lightning hotspots are available at https://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/lightning/data/data_lis_vhr-climatology.html.
