Highlights from Cecil et. al.'s 'Gridded lightning climatology from TRMM-LIS and OTD: Dataset description' publication
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Cecil, Daniel J., Dennis E. Buechler and Richard J. Blakeslee. "Gridded lightning climatology from TRMM-LIS and OTD: Dataset description." Atmospheric Research 135-136. (2014): 404 -414. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.06.028
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- This publication clearly defines the differences between the 10 different LIS/OTD climatology datasets that are distributed by the Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC). Please see the publication for precise details on the methodology used to create each dataset.
- The LIS/OTD 0.5 Degree High Resolution Full Climatology (HRFC) and the LIS/OTD 2.5 Degree Low Resolution Full Climatology (LRFC) are the simplest of the climatology products. Mean annual flash rate is provided as a simple counting experiment - the total number of flashes are divided by the total observation duration.
- Caution is recommended for all data products at high latitudes due to the small sample sizes from OTD.
- The LIS/OTD 2.5 Degree Low Resolution Monthly Time Series (LRMTS) weighs the LIS observations more heavily than the OTD observations since LIS was a higher quality instrument on a more stable platform. The monthly LRTMS are recommended for almost all scientific purposes.
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Blakeslee, Richard J., et al. "Seasonal variations in the lightning diurnal cycle and implications for the global electric circuit." Atmospheric Research 135 - 136. (2014): 228 - 243.
Boccippio, Dennis J., William J. Koshak, and Richard J. Blakeslee. "Performance assessment of the Optical Transient Detector and Lightning Imaging Sensor. Part I: Predicted Diurnal Variability." Journal of Atmospheric & Oceanic Technology 19.2 (2002): 1318.
Cecil, D.J., D. Buechler, and R. Blakeslee. 2014. LIS/OTD Gridded Lightning Climatology Data Collection. Data set available online from the NASA EOSDIS Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. doi: http:/dx.doi.org/10.5067/LIS/LIS-OTD/DATA311.
Oct 19th, 2018