The Lightning Modeling Workshop, organized by Timothy Lang (ST11), took place from 4/1-3/24 in Albuquerque, NM, as well as online. The workshop aimed to bring together the community to create a roadmap that will address the current state of lightning modeling, identify shortcomings, propose ways to enhance existing models, and establish a plan to integrate various model components into a comprehensive system. Building a holistic physical model for lightning is a significant challenge that involves combining meteorological, chemical, plasma, optical, and radio process models. This integrated system must be able to handle physics at scales ranging from millimeters to hundreds of kilometers.
During the workshop, Patrick Gatlin (ST11) discussed MSFC’s initiatives to develop a lightning and thunderstorm model to support the CubeSpark mission. William Koshak and Mason Quick (both from the Earth Science Branch) also took part in the workshop. The event was sponsored by Sandia National Labs and Texas Tech University and saw the participation of approximately 60 individuals. The workshop was successful in gathering valuable information that will contribute to the development of the planned roadmap towards a comprehensive lightning model. Such a model would be instrumental in studying the correlations between lightning, weather, and climate as well as improving lightning protection and safety measures.
