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[IDD #ZUL-750696]: Lightning Data Access

This archive contains answers to questions sent to Unidata support through mid-2025. Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated. For the most up-to-date information on the use of NSF Unidata software and data services, please consult the Software Documentation first.

  • Subject: [IDD #ZUL-750696]: Lightning Data Access
  • Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:22:07 -0600
Hi Adrian,

re:
> Hello, my name is Adrian Hornung, a meteorology student at St. Cloud
> State University.

We haven't had a support inquiry from St. Cloud for quite some time!

re:
> I am in the early stages of my senior thesis and in
> need of reliable lightning data. After contacting Tyler Allison and
> Gilbert Sebenste at Allison House, I was directed to you. Mr. Allison
> and Mr. Sebenste inform ed me that I should be able to access lightning
> data from Unidata at no cost through my university.

This is almost correct.  Your university can get a real-time feed of two 
different
lightning sources in point-to-point feeds using our LDM software.  The
sites that you would get the data from, however, is not us.  Please review
the Lightning pages on our web site for additional details:

Unidata HomePage
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu

  Data
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/data/

    Lightning
    http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/data/lightning_data_2.html

As you will see from the last page listed, there are two lightning feeds:

NLDN data from the University of Albany
USPLN data from WSI Corporation

re:
> I am hoping you can provide me with more information on what data would
> be accessible to me and how I can go about obtaining it.

Please check out the web pages listed above and links from the last page
for more details.  Be aware that in both cases, someone at St. Cloud
with the power to sign a binding agreement (e.g., the head of your
department, etc.) will need to request the feed(s) from the provider(s).

Also be aware that only the real-time data will be available.  In neither
case will the providers of the data provide archive data.

Finally, to get the data, St. Cloud will need to install, build, configure
and run the Unidata LDM software package.  This software runs on *nix
systems (Unix/Linux/MacOS-X); it does _not_ run under Windows.  We can
help you or others at St. Cloud re-establish an LDM presence (St. Cloud
used to be an active participant in the Unidata Internet Data Distribution
system which is built on top of the LDM).

re:
> Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.

No worries.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: ZUL-750696
Department: Support IDD
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed