Earth  ID: 3748

Terrestrial Gamma Flashes (TGFs) from Fermi with Seasonal Earth

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on January 10, 2011
In this visualization, we plot the timing and locations of terrestrial gamma flashes (TGFs) observed by the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray observatory.

This version of the map includes the global lightning probability (the light blue glow overlaying the global map) which varies with season. The Earth's surface also illustrates some seasonal variations. We see that TGFs are roughly correlated with lightning probability, and the lightning probability correlated with seaons. There is more lightning in the summer season.

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This movie plays the terrestrial gamma flashes with a daily lighting map (blue glow) and seasonally-varying Earth as background.
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This movie plays the terrestrial gamma flashes with a daily lighting map (blue glow) and seasonally varying Earth as background. This version does not display a time tag.

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Scott Wiessinger (UMBC): Producer
Gerald J. Fishman (NASA/MSFC): Scientist
Michael Briggs (NASA/MSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3748

Missions:
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
Terra
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission - TRMM

Data Used:
TRMM/LIS/Lightning
1996
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Fermi/Gamma Ray Burst Monitor/Terrestrial Gamma Flashes also referred to as: Fermi GBM TGF
Data Compilation - NASA/MSFC - 2008-08-07 to 2010-12-31
view all stories where this data set is used
Terra and Aqua/MODIS/Blue Marble: Next Generation also referred to as: BMNG
Credit:
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of these series:
Terrestrial Gamma Flashes
Astrophysics Visualizations

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Spectral/Engineering >> Gamma Ray
SVS >> Terrestrial Gamma Flash
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0