The SUNY-Albany detection network now consists of thirty direction finders recording most of the cloud-to-ground flashes from Maine to Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River. Several research projects will be conducted to better understand the meteorological and physical characteristics of lightning. These include, for example, the luminosity characteristics of triggered and natural lightning, the physical characteristics of lightning in the "Lake effect" snowstorms and in the regions of moisture convergence and cyclonic surface vorticity in severe storms, and an evaluation of the reported positive lightning ground flashes recorded throughout the year by the network.
