Briah Davis, NCAS-M Cohort 3 fellow, successfully presented and defended her MS thesis on April 30, 2021: Total Lightning Warm Season Variability in the Caribbean and Florida as seen from Ground- and Space-Based Lightning Detectors
This study statistically compared two total lightning detectors, one ground-based and the other space-based, to compare sensitivities. Such evaluation is important for both research and operational applications. Pairs of the total lightning flash counts between the instruments were inspected for a region spanning Florida and the Caribbean. Data, obtained from the National Weather Service archive, span the warm season and are analyzed using linear regression and goodness-of-fit tests. Results suggest that there are a large number of outlier flashes seen in both instruments and in general the ENI tends to have the higher of the two.
Future work involves the investigation of more data to further explore these findings along with use of an overlay of radar data to better understand what contributes to the differences between the resultant instrument measurements.
