Lightning Location Using Sferic Measurements from Globally Distant Sites
Abstract
Lightning discharges generate electromagnetic pulses, known as sferics, that propagate through the waveguide formed by the earth and the ionosphere. The energy in the VLF band can propagate over great distances (~10,000 km) with low loss (3 dB/Mm) and can therefore be detected far from the source lightning location. Using sferic measurements from VLF receivers located at Palmer Station, Antarctica and Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, the locations of lightning discharges from areas such as North and South America and Africa are triangulated. Both sferic arrival azimuth at the two receivers and the time of arrival difference between the receivers are used to find the best estimate of the lightning stroke location. Due to space-time complications arising from the extremely wide separation of the two receivers, ambiguities result in pairing sferics detected at one site to their matching sferics detected at the other site. In these cases a best-best estimate scheme is used. Location accuracy varies depending on the location of the lightning discharge relative to the location of the two receivers. Selected results are shown from 7-10 September 2001. Also, individually triangulated events are matched to intense lightning discharges detected by the National Lightning Detection Network, the Lightning Imaging Sensor and the South African Lightning Detection Network.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002AGUFM.A11D0123W
- Keywords:
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- 3324 Lightning;
- 3360 Remote sensing;
- 3394 Instruments and techniques