Array · collection · 2026
Combined Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) Hourly Thunder Hour Data Product
Listed in NASA Earthdata CMR and NASA Data Portal — shown once because both records carry DOI 10.5067/glm/hth/data301
The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is the first optical lightning detector in geostationary orbit, and GLM sensors operate aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES R-series: GOES-16, -17, -18, and -19).
Description
The first to launch was GOES-16 on November 19, 2016, and it was placed in the GOES-East position. On March 1, 2018, GOES-17 launched and eventually became operational in the GOES-West position.
Since that time, the United States has maintained one satellite in each position. Currently, GOES-18 (west) and GOES-19 (east) are the operational satellites. With these instruments, the combined hourly thunder hour dataset has been created.
Read the rest (2 more)
A thunder hour is an hour during which thunder can be heard at a given location. Thunder hours represent a historical measure of lightning occurrence and a metric of thunderstorm frequency that is comparatively less sensitive to geographic variations in the detection capabilities of a lightning location system. The GLM thunder hour dataset will provide a long-term means of tracking trends in lightning occurrence over the Americas and surrounding oceans.
The GLM Combined Hourly Thunder Hour dataset is calculated from lightning detections from 1 January 2019 onward, during which time GLMs operated from GOES-West and GOES-East positions, providing continuous lightning detection for a broad region from the Aleutian Islands and New Zealand eastward to the western tip of Africa. The data are provided at 0.05° latitude/longitude resolution in netCDF-4 format.
Links
Get the data
- GLM Combined Hourly Thunder Hour User's Guide ghrc.earthdata.nasa.gov/browseui ↗
documentation · download · from NASA CMR, data nasa gov
- README: GLM Thunder Hour Data ghrc.earthdata.nasa.gov/browseui ↗
documentation · download · from NASA CMR, data nasa gov
- Resource doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-20-0198.1 ↗
Thunder Hours: How Old Methods Offer New Insights into Thunderstorm Climatology
documentation · download · from NASA CMR, data nasa gov
- Original Metadata cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C3894650367-GHRC_DAAC.iso19115 ↗
download · from data nasa gov
- search.earthdata.nasa.gov /portal/ghrc/search?q=glmhth ↗
Files may be downloaded directly to your workstation from this link
download · from NASA CMR
Where it is published
- NASA Data Portal dataset page data.nasa.gov/dataset/combined-geostationary-lightning-mapper-glm-hourly-thu… ↗
landing page · from data nasa gov
- DOI doi.org/10.5067/glm/hth/data301 ↗
DOI / persistent id · from NASA CMR
Catalogue records · 3
- CKAN API data.nasa.gov/api/3/action/package_show?id=573d855e-086c-4633-b8b8-ef44a6990… ↗
metadata API · from data nasa gov
- CMR UMM-JSON cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C3894650367-GHRC_DAAC.umm_json ↗
metadata API · from NASA CMR
- CMR record cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C3894650367-GHRC_DAAC.html ↗
catalogue entry · from NASA CMR
Topics
- Stated by source
- Geostationary Lightning Mapper · Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 17 · Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 18 · Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 19 · GOES-16 · Lightning · Thunder Hour
- From keywords
- Astronomy & Astrophysics · Earth & Environmental Science · Energy · Ocean & Atmospheric Science · Physics
Provenance · 2 source records, 22 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| NASA Earthdata CMR | C3894650367-GHRC_DAAC | 7 d ago | JSON v1 |
| NASA Data Portal | 573d855e-086c-4633-b8b8-ef44a6990976 | 4 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| access_level | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:astronomy | mapping · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:energy | mapping · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmospheric | mapping · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:physics | mapping · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[instrument].gcmd_instrument:glm | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[measured_variable].gcmd:earth-science/atmosphere/atmospheric-electricity/lightning | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[measured_variable].gcmd:earth-science/atmosphere/atmospheric-electricity/lightning/thunder-hour | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[platform].gcmd_platform:goes-16 | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[platform].gcmd_platform:goes-17 | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[platform].gcmd_platform:goes-18 | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[platform].gcmd_platform:goes-19 | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | |
| created_date | source · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | /umm/Abstract |
| license_text | source · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| publication_date | source · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| spatial | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | /umm/SpatialExtent |
| temporal | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | /umm/TemporalExtents |
| title | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 | /umm/EntryTitle |
| updated_date | source · data nasa gov | connector:data_nasa_gov@1.0.0 | |
| version_label | source · NASA CMR | connector:nasa_cmr@1.0.0 |