{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T22:13:06Z","timestamp":1786140786907,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,31]],"date-time":"2021-07-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1627689600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2017YFB0502800"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017YFB0502800"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41305015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41305015"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Basic Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Middle Atmosphere and Global environment Observation (LAGEO) Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences","award":["LAGEO-2018-03"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LAGEO-2018-03"]}]},{"name":"Basic Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather of Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences","award":["2017LASW-B06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017LASW-B06"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Lightning Mapping Imager (LMI) onboard the geostationary meteorological satelliteFengYun-4A (FY-4A) detects both intra-cloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning continuously during daytime and nighttime. This study examined, for the first time, the optical characteristics and distribution of the \u201cEvent,\u201d \u201cGroup,\u201d and \u201cFlash\u201d observed by the LMI in the whole LMI observation domain. The optical properties and spatial distribution of the LMI lightning were compared with those of the Lightning Imaging Sensor on the International Space Station (ISS-LIS) based on the dataset during 2018\u20132020. Due to the different spatial resolutions and detection efficiencies of these two lightning imagers, the number of ISS-LIS lightning was more than that of LMI lightning. The ISS-LIS Flash duration was also larger than that of the LMI Flash. The duration, radiance, and footprint of LMI lightning in different regions were analyzed in detail based on the LMI lightning dataset in 2019. The duration and radiance of the Flash were generally less than 50\u2013500 ms and 200 Jm\u22122ster\u22121\u03bcm\u22121, respectively. The footprint of Flashes was distributed from 200 to 600 km2. The number of Groups per Flash was mostly less than five. Considering the spatial distribution and temporal variations in the LMI lightning compared with the ground-based Lightning Location Network in China (LLNC), it was found that the LMI Group number was close to the LLNC CG (Cloud-to-Ground) Event number. The maximum Flash density was found in the middle and lower south of the Yangtze River and Pearl River Delta region, respectively, while the lower values were in western China, where the mean radiance per Flash was greater. There was more LMI lightning during the nighttime than that during the daytime, indicating the higher detection efficiency of the LMI in the nighttime than in the daytime.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13153013","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,1]],"date-time":"2021-08-01T21:44:32Z","timestamp":1627854272000},"page":"3013","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Lightning Activity Observed by the FengYun-4A Lightning Mapping Imager"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Dongjie","family":"Cao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Radiometric Calibration and Validation for Environmental Satellites, China Meteorological Administration (LRCVES\/CMA), National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing 100081, China"},{"name":"National Satellite Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Feng","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Radiometric Calibration and Validation for Environmental Satellites, China Meteorological Administration (LRCVES\/CMA), National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing 100081, China"},{"name":"National Satellite Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaohu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Radiometric Calibration and Validation for Environmental Satellites, China Meteorological Administration (LRCVES\/CMA), National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing 100081, China"},{"name":"National Satellite Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Middle Atmosphere and Global Environment Observation, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosres.2013.01.006","article-title":"The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)","volume":"125\u2013126","author":"Goodman","year":"2013","journal-title":"Atmos. Res."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1097","DOI":"10.1029\/2018GL081052","article-title":"Initial geostationary lightning mapper observations","volume":"46","author":"Rudlosky","year":"2019","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1637","DOI":"10.1175\/BAMS-D-16-0065.1","article-title":"Introducing the new generation of chinese geostationary weather satellites, Fengyun-4","volume":"90","author":"Yang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Blakeslee, R.J. (2017). NRT Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on International Space Station (ISS) Provisional Science Data."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"4","article-title":"LIS on ISS: Expanded global coverage and enhanced applications","volume":"28","author":"Blakeslee","year":"2016","journal-title":"Earth Obs."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11.727","DOI":"10.1002\/jgrd.50715","article-title":"Characteristics of lightning flashes with exceptional illuminated areas, durations, and optical powers and surrounding storm properties in the tropics and inner subtropics","volume":"118","author":"Peterson","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2715","DOI":"10.5194\/nhess-14-2715-2014","article-title":"Global patterns of lightning properties derived by OTD and LIS","volume":"14","author":"Beirle","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.1002\/2016JD025312","article-title":"The properties of optical lightning flashes and the clouds they illuminate","volume":"122","author":"Peterson","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13370","DOI":"10.1002\/2017JD026855","article-title":"The evolution and structure of extreme optical lightning flashes","volume":"122","author":"Peterson","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1453","DOI":"10.1175\/BAMS-D-16-0041.1","article-title":"Diurnal variation of TRMM\/LIS lightning flash radiances","volume":"98","author":"Chronis","year":"2017","journal-title":"Am. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1029\/2019JD031087","article-title":"Changes to the appearance of optical lightning flashes observed from space according to thunderstorm organization and structure","volume":"125","author":"Peterson","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"6","article-title":"Time evolution of satellite-based optical properties in lightning flashes, and its impact on GLM flash detection","volume":"125","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1015","DOI":"10.1175\/JTECH-D-18-0173.1","article-title":"Evaluation of the performance characteristics of the lightning imaging sensor","volume":"36","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hui, W., Zhang, W., Lyu, W., and Li, P. (2020). Preliminary observations from the China Fengyun-4A lightning mapping imager and its optical radiation characteristics. Remote Sens., 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs12162622"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, Z., Qie, X., Sun, J., Xiao, X., Zhang, Y., Cao, D., and Yang, J. (2021). Evaluation of Fengyun-4A lightning mapping imager (LMI) performance during multiple convective episodes over Beijing. Remote Sens., 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13091746"},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"D09210","article-title":"Performance assessment of the optical transient detector and lightning imaging sensor","volume":"112","author":"Mach","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Cao, D.J., Huang, F.X., and Qie, X.S. (2014, January 15\u201320). Development and Evaluation of Detection Algorithm for FY-4 Geostationary Lightning Imager (GLI) Measurement. Proceedings of the XV Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, Norman, OK, USA."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9035","DOI":"10.1029\/98JD00153","article-title":"A combined TOA\/MDF technology upgrade of the U.S. national lightning detection network","volume":"103","author":"Cummins","year":"1998","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1835","DOI":"10.1175\/JTECH-D-12-00028.1","article-title":"Performance evaluation for lightning location system based on observation of artificially-triggered lightning and natural lightning flashes","volume":"29","author":"Chen","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2020JD033330","DOI":"10.1029\/2020JD033330","article-title":"A method to update model kinematic states by assimilating satellite-observed total lightning data to improve convective analysis and forecasting","volume":"125","author":"Chen","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6536","DOI":"10.1175\/JCLI-D-15-0124.1","article-title":"TRMM LIS climatology of thunderstorm occurrence and conditional lightning flash rates","volume":"28","author":"Cecil","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1029\/2018JD028741","article-title":"The time evolution of optical lightning flashes","volume":"124","author":"Peterson","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6612","DOI":"10.1175\/JCLI-D-14-00076.1","article-title":"Comprehensive pattern of deep convective systems over the Tibetan Plateau\u2013South Asian monsoon region based on TRMM Data","volume":"27","author":"Qie","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"L05814","DOI":"10.1029\/2004GL022162","article-title":"The lower positive charge center and its effect on lightning discharges on the Tibetan Plateau","volume":"32","author":"Qie","year":"2005","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"130","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosres.2017.04.031","article-title":"Observation and analysis of electrical structure change and diversity in thunderstorms on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau","volume":"194","author":"Li","year":"2017","journal-title":"Atmos. Res."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scib.2020.08.033","article-title":"Increasing trend of lightning activity in the South Asia region","volume":"66","author":"Qie","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. Bull."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"4551","article-title":"Lightning activities on the Tibetan Plateau as observed by the lightning imaging sensor","volume":"108","author":"Qie","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/15\/3013\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T06:38:27Z","timestamp":1760164707000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/15\/3013"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,31]]},"references-count":27,"journal-issue":{"issue":"15","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8]]}},"alternative-id":["rs13153013"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs13153013","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,31]]}}}