Analysis of lightning data from the DMSP satellite

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Abstract
A lightning detector, consisting of 12 silicon photodiodes, each with a field of view of 700 × 700 km on the earth, has been flown on a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellite. Peak amplitude of the lightning flash was digitized within a range of 16 discrete levels, and the largest amplitude observed within a 1‐s sample interval was recorded. Approximately 10,000 lightning flashes were analyzed. The frequency of occurrence of peak lightning power within the range 108–1010 W has been obtained. The median power level was 1 × 109 W, and about 2% of the lightning flashes had peak power greater than 1010 W. These data are compared to similar results from a ground‐based experiment. Lightning flash rate per unit area of cloud cover in a storm complex was 4 × 10−5 s−1 km−2. The long‐term flash rate per unit surface area on the earth was 6 × 10−8 s−1 km−2, but this value may be biased toward high rates by the method of selecting the data base.

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