LI Mission Advisory Group (LI MAG) Jan 2020

The LI MAG meeting #9 was devoted to:

• Communicating to the LI MAG members the status of the MTG program and of the MTG LI system procurement.
• Discussing with the LI MAG members the methodologies for the assessment of the LI pre-flight (expected) performances and LI performances during system commissioning.
• Discussing LI Day 2 applications, specifically, LI data for bolide detection/monitoring.
• Communicating to the LI MAG members the cal/val plan and external study status and plan for the near future.

Objectives and outcomes

1. Provide the LI MAG experts with an overview of the LI system development status
The objective was accomplished by having key people from ESA and EUMETSAT exposing the status of the MTG program, ground segment procurement, and LI instrument procurement (with focus on expected performances).

2. Provide the LI MAG experts with an overview of the LI Commissioning and cal/val preparation status
The objective was accomplished by having the EUMETSAT LI instrument scientist presenting the status of the development of the off-line tools for the LI commissioning, cal/val, and long-term monitoring. Moreover, the LI MAG experts embraced the proposal of EUMETSAT of organizing a workshop to test the techniques for the assessment of the LI lightning detection performances that are implemented in the EUMETSAT tools (the workshop will take place in Q4/20, TBC).

3. Discuss with the LI MAG experts the approach for the assessment of the pre-flight LI Level 2 performances in view of the LI RfD discussion with ESA
The objective was achieved by having a round table discussion chaired by the LI instrument scientist in which all the details of the approach have been presented, debated, and refined/changed following the experts’ opinion.

4. Provide the LI MAG experts with an overview of the status and future plans for the external studies run by EUMETSAT
The objective was achieved by having a presentation from the LI instrument scientist and, in addition to this, one final presentation of a study (run by the Met Office) and the plan for a study that has been recently kicked-off with OVE-ALDIS.

5. Consolidate the cooperation with the American community working with lightning detection systems
This objective was achieved by having a presentation from one of the two LI MAG experts from the US on the status of the GLM cal/val activities and by discussing future activities in which the American colleagues will be involved during the LI commissioning and/or cal/val activities.

6. Discuss with experts outside the LI MAG forum the possibility of cooperation in the context of the LI cal/val and LI Day2 applications
The objective was achieved by having: i) a presentation on the ASIM instrument of the DTU Space, and ii) two presentations on bolide detection from space with instruments such as GLM and LI.

Programme and reports

29 January

30 January