Update of Maintenance and Development of the Mid-Atlantic Lightning Mapping Array (MALMA)

The Washington DC- and NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF)- Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) have been combined as the Mid-Atlantic LMA (MALMA) since the summer of 2019 when the 8-station WFFLMA antenna network was re-deployed on the eastern peninsula of Maryland/Virginia. This network detects and geolocates the Very High Frequency (VHF) emission sources produced by lightning in the channel 3 frequency band between 60-66 MHZ. This network provides detailed 3-D maps of total lightning activity within the region of sensitivity and can be used to investigate the performance of Geostationary Lightning Mapping (GLM) and other lightning detection technologies. The 9-station DCLMA over the Washington DC metro area has not been well maintained since the pandemic due to limited access to the station sites and has resumed regular maintenance since April 2021. However, with the WFFLMA added, the combined network performed well. This talk presents the assessment of this combined multi-band network, including support of the ground-network hardware, development of data products, and application, analysis, and distribution of these data products to end-users.