Atmospheric electricity refers to electrical phenomena that occur in the Earth's atmosphere. These phenomena include lightning, atmospheric ionization, the air–earth current, and other quiescent electrical processes. The existence of separated electric charges in the atmosphere results from many minor processes (spray electrification, dust electrification, etc.) and a few major processes (cosmic-ray ionization, radioactive-particle ionization, and thunderstorm electrification).

Lightning has a broad range of impacts. This includes creating ozone-producing chemicals and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. It is also responsible for triggering wildfires and causing property damage. Additionally, lightning is a safety concern for individuals.

NASA has an array of ground-, airborne-, and space-based instruments that detect lightning and atmospheric electricity to better understand its characteristics. This, in turn, improves storm behavior knowledge, predictions, and safety. The data also help scientists explain the occurrence of transient luminous events, which are colored jets, rings, and other shapes of electrical light sometimes seen in the upper atmosphere (i.e., beyond the troposphere) above storms.

NASA’s datasets include a combination of observation sources. Ground-based instruments include the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA) and electric field mills. Airborne-based instruments include the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) and Fly’s Eye GLM Event Simulator (FEGS). Lastly, NASA has several space-based observations from the International Space Station, continuous lightning detecting from the GOES-16 satellite, and gridded summaries of lightning characteristics from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Optical Transient Detector (OTD).