| 30 Jun 2026
First Year of Meteosat Third Generation Lightning Imager Observations
Abstract. The MTG-LI System is the first European space-based geostationary mission devoted to the monitoring and characterization of lightning activity over hemispheric scales. The present paper provides the first comprehensive summary of MTG-LI data during its first year of continuous observations. From July 2024 to June 2025, the instrument detected a total of 595×106 flashes within its field-of-view, encompassing Europe, Africa, and part of the Atlantic Ocean, South America, middle East and Indian Ocean. The highest observed lightning flash density of 189 flashes km−2 y−1 was found in the east of The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The MTG-LI is capable of capturing both global and local lightning features. In addition, the instrument’s high sensitivity to intra-cloud lightning activity translates into flash density values notably higher than ground-based lightning statistics. These results demonstrate that the MTG-LI is an excellent instrument for the continuous monitoring of total lightning activity across its entire field of view on both operational and climatological scales.
Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors serves as editor for the special issue to which this paper belongs.
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