ISRO Uses Indian Satellites To Nowcast Lightning Strikes Across India

Hyderabad: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that it has made a significant advancement in nowcasting (weather forecasting) for lightning events across India, using the data from Indian geostationary satellites.

This has been achieved with the help of National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a sub-division of ISRO. The research agency explained how atmospheric lighting is produced through complex interactions among meteorological parameters. These parameters are influenced by convective processes within the troposphere. Surface radiation, temperature, and wind patterns are the key contributors to the convection phenomena.

OLR, LST and Wind variable combined together for Lightning predictions (Image Credit: ISRO)

NRSC and ISRO researchers detected lighting signatures through the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) data gathered from the INSAT-3D satellite. A decrease in OLR strength helps to identify potential lightning activities. Notably, near real-time observations from the INSAT-3D satellite are used to determine these lightning signatures.

Lightning Strikes spotted by INSAT-3D (Image Credit: ISRO)

Moreover, the team of researchers incorporated additional parameters like LST (land surface temperature) and wind into a composite variable aimed at enhancing predictive accuracy for lightning detection.

ISRO mentioned that the composite variable will accurately capture the fluctuations in lightning activity, which will be verified by ground-based measurements. This offers a more dependable indication of lightning activity.

Using this, researchers will be able to identify whether there is a rise or fall in lightning activities, improving predictions of both the occurrence and intensity of lightning. With the help of this new composite variable, predictions of these activities can be made with a lead time of 2.5 hours.

Predicted and actual lightning strikes (Image Credit: ISRO)

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