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.
Gathering and sustaining a community is needed to act as a steward of a roadmap that guides development of the model. Periodic review of the roadmap through workshops and gatherings at professional meetings will document the state of the science, 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.
As a result of the first workshop in 2024, the first version of the roadmap was developed. It outlines 5 years of effort and a technical plan that sets the course for improvements. The model and its sub-components will be open, developed in public for the community.
Please cite the roadmap as: Bruning, E. C., A. Back, S. A. Behnke, S. Goodman, C. Hogg, T. Lang, and J. Tilles, 2024: A roadmap for a lightning modeling grand challenge, v.1.0.0. Tech. rep. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.14624043.
12:30 pm 1 April — 12:00 pm 3 April 2024, Albuquerque NM
Hosted by Sandia National Lab at the Marriott Uptown in Albuquerque, NM
The schedule, presentations, and summary reports from the 2024 workshop are available on the archived workshop webpage.
12:30 pm 1 April — 12:00 pm 3 April 2025, Lubbock TX
Hosted by Texas Tech University
The schedule, presentations, and summary reports from the 2025 workshop are available on the archived workshop webpage.