June is Lightning Safety Awareness Month. Lightning is the number two killer of severe weather. Flooding is number one. A lot of people think if it is sunny or maybe just a few clouds around and you hear thunder, it is okay to stay outside until you actually see the lightning. That is not true. If you hear thunder when you are outside, that means that lightning is close enough to strike you!
Dr. Richard Blakeslee is a senior atmospheric researcher at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. On behalf of the Marshall Center, Blakeslee conducts research at the National Space Science and Technology Center, or NSSTC, the Huntsville-based research facility cooperatively managed by Marshall and Alabama research universities.
NASA
Blakeslee's research primarily focuses on lightning, thunderstorms and hurricanes, using ground-based, aerial and satellite-borne lightning and atmospheric electricity instruments. His expertise includes satellite-based lightning measurements, thunderstorm and atmospheric electricity research, global electric circuit studies and lightning instrumentation. In addition, he has pioneered applications to monitor research campaigns in real time using web-based displays to provide improved situational awareness, experiment execution. These applications also support pre-mission planning and post- mission analysis.
A native of Delaware, Ohio, Blakeslee earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Miami-Ohio University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1974. He earned a master's degree and doctorate in atmospheric physics from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1976 and 1984, respectively. He joined NASA in 1986. Currently, he holds one patent and is the author or co-author of over 40 research publications.
Joining the chat is easy. Simply visit this page on Thursday, June 23 a few minutes before the start of the chat. The chat window will be open at the bottom of this page. Simply log in and be ready to ask questions at 7 p.m. EDT.
See you in chat!
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
Kimberly.D.Newston@nasa.gov
Lightning's connection to tropical storms and hurricane intensification has eluded researchers for years, but NASA scientists hope to answer some of these puzzling questions.
Credit: NASA
On Thursday, June 23, from 7-8 p.m. EDT, Dr. Richard Blakeslee, atmospheric research scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will answer your questions about lightning safety, the global distribution and frequency of lightning occurrence as well as some of its physical characteristic, the relationship of lightning to severe storms and weather (e.g., lightning rate changes may serve as a "pre-cursor" or advanced indicator to later severe weather at the ground such as tornadoes), and other lightning research topics such as lightning-hurricane relationships and terrestrial gamma ray burst.
Lightning strikes during a thunderstorm.
NASA/MSFC/Nancy Vreuls
Dr. Richard Blakeslee
A native of Delaware, Ohio, Blakeslee earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Miami-Ohio University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1974. He earned a master's degree and doctorate in atmospheric physics from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1976 and 1984, respectively. He joined NASA in 1986. Currently, he holds one patent and is the author or co-author of over 40 research publications.
Joining the chat is easy. Simply visit this page on Thursday, June 23 a few minutes before the start of the chat. The chat window will be open at the bottom of this page. Simply log in and be ready to ask questions at 7 p.m. EDT.
See you in chat!
Contacts and sources:
Kim NewtonMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
Kimberly.D.Newston@nasa.gov
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