Tag: daile zhang

Zhang Presents Her New Book at the CTR Wilson Meeting

December 13, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS scientist Daile Zhang and her coauthor Ron Holle virtually presented their new
book–Flashes of Brilliance: The Science and Wonder of Arizona Lightning –at the CTR Wilson
meeting on November 16, 2023. They discussed the motivation of writing the book and
introduced the content of each chapter. The audiences were interested in creating
undergraduate level courses and materials based on the book.

The Lightning Team at the Spooky Science Expo. Left to right: Damian Joseph Figueroa, Guangyang Fang, Ashmita Pyne, Daile Zhang, and Joseph Patton

Lightning Team Outreach Event at the 8th Spooky Science Expo

October 27, 2023

The ESSIC/CISESS Lightning Team – Guangyang Fang, Joseph Patton, Daile Zhang, and two students Damian Joseph Figueroa and Ashmita Pyne – went to celebrate the 8th Spooky Science Expo in Alexandria, VA. This was the first time CISESS/ESSIC scientists participated in this event.

Figure: The International Space Station Lightning Imaging Sensors 128 X 128-pixel array of (a) event count, (b) total event energy density, (c) mean event energy density, (d) pixel minimum energy density, (e) pixel maximum energy density, and (f) pixelwise 95% quantile energy density during March 2017–September 2020, computed separately for each pixel, indexed by CCD pixel numbers.

Evaluating Lightning Observations from Space

October 10, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS Scientists Daile Zhang, Scott Rudlosky (NOAA), and colleagues published a study that uses the well-documented Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Lightning Imaging Sensors (LIS) performance to determine if the International Space Station (ISS) LIS performs well enough to bridge the gap between TRMM LIS and the new generation of Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLMs).

No, rubber doesn't stop lightning, and your cell phones doesn't attract bolts from the blue. These are just some of the correctives a UMD expert applies to lightning safety myths. Illustrations by Valerie Morgan

Expert Strikes Down Myths on Avoiding Lightning Strikes

July 6, 2023

Summer brings to mind sunny days and relaxing vacations, but the season’s dark side makes it one of the busiest times of the year for a University of Maryland “fulminologist”—a scientist specializing in lightning research.

Building & Deploying Tools to Better Observe Lightning in the Washington D.C. Region & Beyond

July 6, 2023

In January 2022, ESSIC/CISESS Scientist Daile Zhang won a CISESS Seed Grant to evaluate NOAA’s Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLMs) on the GOES-16 and -17 Satellites and the upgraded Mid-Atlantic Lightning Mapping Array (MALMA) using a network of low-cost and innovative atmospheric electricity and lightning measurement tools to take lightning videos. Recently, the initial Seeds Grant period ended and Zhang reported her results.

Zhang Publishes Book on Arizona Lightning

April 6, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS Scientist Daile Zhang has published a new book titled Flashes of Brilliance: The Science and Wonder of Arizona Lightning with Springer.

[VIDEO] Zhang helps the Lake-Effect Electrification (LEE) Field Campaign

February 1, 2023

Daile Zhang helped the NSF-funded LEE field campaign in Oswego, NY this week. The LEE project aims to study the electrification mechanism of the lake effect snowstorms in the Great Lake area. This is the first time that scientists have conducted such an experiment. Daile helped launch the balloon and electric field mill in the field, testing and preparing for the electric field mill, and making connectors in the lab.

Figure: Joseph Patton presenting his poster live and in person at AMS. He presented research on the relationship between lightning observations from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper and the circuitous paths aircraft have to take to avoid turbulent thunderstorms. GLM observations, showing the unique spatial footprint of lightning flashes with rapid updates, play a critical role in enhancing the forecasts of operational aviation meteorologists who are in direct communication with Air Traffic Control and pilots during severe weather events.

ESSIC/CISESS Lightning Group Presented at the 2023 AMS Annual Meeting

February 1, 2023

The ESSIC/CISESS Lightning Group presented five oral talks and four posters (two at the Student Conference) at the 2023 AMS Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.

Figure: Annual lightning fatalities and injuries from 2003 to 2018 reported in the Yearbooks of Meteorological Hazards in China. Black and blue curves represent the annual fatalities and injuries, respectively.

Daile Zhang Speaks at the International Conference on Lightning Protection

December 19, 2022

ESSIC/CISESS Scientist Daile Zhang is a coauthor of a presentation that was given at the 36th International Conference on Lightning Protection in Cape Town, South Africa during October 2-7, 2022. She has published a conference paper, which was presented by the co-author Ron Holle, a former meteorologist for Vaisala as well as NOAA. The paper is titled “The Epidemiology of Lightning in Mainland China – A Review of Two Datasets from the 1950s to 2018.”

At the student section of ChaserCon (left to right): CISESS Scientist Guangyang Fang, Undergraduate Research Assistants Samantha Smith, Alex Friedman and Domenic Brooks, Graduate Student Alvin Cheung, and Scientist Daile Zhang.

ESSIC/CISESS Lightning Team at 2022 Mid-Atlantic ChaserCon

November 16, 2022

The ESSIC/CISESS Lightning Team members Guangyang Fang and Daile Zhang recently attended the 2022 Mid-Atlantic ChaserCon, a conference for meteorologists at National Weather Service, broadcast meteorologists, emergency managers, storm chasers and other professional and amateur meteorologists across the great Mid-Atlantic area to network and discuss local severe storms and promote ideas to raise public awareness of severe weather and emergency management. Accompanying them were Undergraduate Research Assistants Alex Friedman, Domenic Brooks, and Samantha Smith as well as an AOSC grad student Alvin Cheung.