Presentation: 2025 ND EPSCoR Annual conference 

October 21, 2025, NDSU Memorial Union, Fargo, North Dakota

Joining the Global Meteor Network to Archive Bolide Events With a Comparative Satellite Observations Study

The Global Meteor Network (GMN) is a citizen science initiative that uses a worldwide network of cameras, each connected to Raspberry Pi computers and open-source software, to detect meteors. The collected data are publicly available and contribute to research in meteor science, space weather, and planetary defense, particularly by documenting fireballs and bolides. According to the GMN Report 2024, the United States hosts over 114,000 cameras; however, Eastern North Dakota and its surrounding areas remain unmonitored. Our project addresses this gap by establishing a GMN-compatible camera network to contribute valuable meteor data and foster collaboration between the University of North Dakota and organizations such as the American Meteor Society and the International Meteor Organization. In parallel, we are leveraging data from NASA’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the GOES-series satellites. Although designed to detect lightning, GLM also captures bolide entries across the Americas. Our research compares GMN detections within GLM’s observational range to GLM-detected bolides, with the aim of generating calibrated light curves of atmospheric entries. This data will support the development of improved entry models for larger, potentially hazardous objects. This works is funded by NASA ND EPSCoR 2025.