Scott Rudlosky* recently co-authored an article in press at at Meteoritics and Planetary Science titled “Detection of meteoroid impacts by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on the GOES‐16 satellite”.
The article discusses the Geostationary Lightning Mapper’s (GLM) detection of bollides, large meteors that explode in the atmosphere. Due to the GLM’s optical sensitivity, it can detect fireballs and lightning with equal sensitivity, measuring the shape of meteor “light curves” (brightness versus time) with millisecond precision.
Between the years of 1988 and 2008, there were only 13 radiometric light curves for bolides recorded. In less than one year alone, the GLM produced light curves for 10 bodies during the instrument’s post-launch test maneuvers.
Rudlosky is a SCSB/STAR/NESDIS/NOAA visiting associate research scientist working in collaboration with ESSIC/CICS-MD. He also serves on the National Weather Service (NWS) Lightning Safety Awareness Team and the NWS Total Lightning Implementation Working Group.
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