Patent ID: 8073622

Claim:
A method for detecting and characterizing a subject lightning strike at a strike location, comprising: sensing electromagnetic radiation produced by the subject lightning strike at a sensing location and producing a first measured signal representative thereof, said first measured signal defining an amplitude of the subject lighting strike versus time; establishing a first set of reference data containing reference waveforms comparable to said first measured signal and defining a set of reference amplitudes versus time, said reference waveforms being representative of one or more predetermined reference lightning strikes at various predetermined distances, and where for each of said distances, said reference lightning strikes have associated therewith various predetermined day/night percentages; comparing, by use of a computer or other suitably adapted electronic device, said first measured signal with said reference data set including finding a correlation between said first measured signal and a correlating waveform in said first set of reference data; and inferring, by reference to said correlating waveform, at least one of a propagation distance, a time-of-arrival, a polarity, and an amplitude of said first measured signal.