English: The GOES-16 Field Campaign forecasters and scientists carefully review the most recent weather data and plot the pilot’s next move in hopes of capturing lightning. This of the field campaign focused on validating the satellite’s lightning mapper. By clearly measuring a lone, well-defined lighting flash with the plane’s instruments, GOES-16’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and various ground sensors, scientists can perform an important “one-to-one” comparison to hone in on the GLM’s detection threshold, or sensitivity, for light. The GOES-16 Field Campaign, a two-month effort to calibrate and validate the Earth-viewing instruments on NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite, completed mission operations in May.

Credit: NOAA

Learn more about phase 2 of the field campaign at www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/hunting-lightning-day-goes-16...

Read a recap of phase 1 of the field campaign at www.goes-r.gov/mission/phaseOneComplete.html

An overview of the field campaign can be found at www.goes-r.gov/mission/fieldCampaignBegins.html