Mid-Atlantic Lightning Mapping Array (MALMA) multi-band network performance.

In the summer of 2019 an 8 station lightning mapping array (LMA) antenna network was re-deployed in the vicinity of NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on the eastern peninsula of Maryland/Virginia. This network detects and geolocates VHF emission sources produced by lightning in the channel 3 frequency band between 60-66 MHz. We combine detections from the WFF network with similar detections by a 9 station network installed in the vicinity of Washington, DC, and sensitive to the channel 10 frequency band at 192-198 MHz. The combined Mid-Atlantic LMA (MALMA) forms a two cluster, multi-band network covering a broad area in the region of the Chesapeake Bay. We present an overall assessment of the combined network performance including an enhancement in sensitivity and area coverage at the cost of computational source solution time. The combined network locates many more sources over the individual networks than the individual networks do by themselves. This is especially true of the DC network which operates in the higher frequency band. The combined network typically locates five to ten times more sources over the Washington DC metro area than the DC LMA does alone. An analysis of the multi-band VHF signatures produced by thunderstorms in the region and the lightning flashes they produce will be discussed.