Timothy Lang (ST11) helped organize the inaugural Lightning Modeling Workshop, which took place 4/1-3/24 in Albuquerque, NM, as well as online. The purpose of the workshop was to gather community input to develop a roadmap that will document the state of lightning modeling, enumerate deficiencies and paths forward for improving current models, and define a strategy for linking together modular model components into an end-to-end system. Development of a holistic physical model for lightning is a grand challenge that relies on linking meteorological, chemical, plasma, optical, and radio process models together into a system that can handle physics on scales from millimeters to hundreds of kilometers. Patrick Gatlin (ST11) attended the workshop virtually and presented on MSFC’s efforts to build out a lightning and thunderstorm model to assist with development of the CubeSpark mission. William Koshak and Mason Quick (both Earth Science Branch) also participated in the workshop. Major workshop sponsors included Sandia National Labs and Texas Tech University. Approximately 60 people attended the workshop, which was very successful in gathering information to help develop the planned roadmap toward an end-to-end lightning model. Such a model would have major benefits for studying relationships between lightning, weather, and climate, and would improve lightning protection and lightning safety.
