Version 1
: Received: 29 April 2023 / Approved: 30 April 2023 / Online: 30 April 2023 (04:10:46 CEST)
How to cite:
Navarro, E.A.; Navarro-Modesto, E.; Segura-Garcia, J.; Lopez-Ballester, J.; Portí, J.A. Operation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network over Spain. Preprints2023, 2023041254. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.1254.v1
Navarro, E.A.; Navarro-Modesto, E.; Segura-Garcia, J.; Lopez-Ballester, J.; Portí, J.A. Operation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network over Spain. Preprints 2023, 2023041254. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.1254.v1
Navarro, E.A.; Navarro-Modesto, E.; Segura-Garcia, J.; Lopez-Ballester, J.; Portí, J.A. Operation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network over Spain. Preprints2023, 2023041254. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.1254.v1
APA Style
Navarro, E.A., Navarro-Modesto, E., Segura-Garcia, J., Lopez-Ballester, J., & Portí, J.A. (2023). Operation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network over Spain. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.1254.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Navarro, E.A., Jesus Lopez-Ballester and Jorge A. Portí. 2023 "Operation of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network over Spain" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.1254.v1
Abstract
This study analyses the detection efficiency of the Worldwide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) of sensors over Spain, a comparison is made with the Meteorological Spanish Agency (AEMET) Lightning Detection Network. The WWLLN operates a planetary distributed network of Very Low Frequency (VLF) antennas which detect lightning VLF signals around the Earth. Very high currents from lightning strokes radiate strong VLF signals in the band 6-22 kHz, which are detected up to 10,000 km, therefore WWLLN receiving sensors can be sparsely spaced. However the detection capability of VLF signals depends on the environment, and clean areas with a good ground and no metal parts around must be selected for proper reception. For the area of Spain and Portugal we had two WWLLN sensors in 2012, and three sensors later on for the data of 2020, 2021 and 2022. The sensors in Iberian Peninsula are at a distance of around 760 km; that is very close in comparison with other WWLLN sensors in the Earth which are around 5.000-15.000 km. The WWLLN sensors send the timing of the detection to the central sensor where the location of the lightning is determined with an improved algorithm when a mini-mum of 5 sensors detect the VLF signal. We show that detection efficiency was excellent and consistent with previous studies. Lightning location data from 1st January 2012 to 30st April 2012 from AEMET was used to analyze time and space shared events with the WWLLN network with 0.5s time difference and 20 km distance. The results improved in 2020, 2021 and 2022. More than 40,000 lightning strikes were analyzed in the present work, and we found a detection efficiency > 38%.
Keywords
Lightning; Geolocation; WWLLN; Global Lightning Geolocation; Detection Efficiency; Terrestrial Monitoring Sensors; Atmospheric Electricity; Detection Efficiency of WWLLN in Iberia
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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