Title: Lightning detection for an Air Force automated observation system
Description: The Air Force Geophysics Laboratory is conducting an advanced research and development program to develop sensors and techniques to be used in an automated weather observation system. This report concentrates on the progress and plans to automate the observation of one particular weather element: lighting. Since July 1986, AFGL has archived lighting data from the SUNY-Albany Lighting Detection Network (LDN) for the northeastern United States. In an attempt to demonstrate the potential of a commercially-available Remote Display Processor (RDP) coupled with the LDN, a detailed case study was made of a storm that occurred on 10-11 August 1986. The capabilities of the RDP to display the location, motion, and evolution of cloud-to-ground lighting-strike clusters are shown. In addition, some products are shown of software that was developed to track individual lighting-strike clusters, generate their mean position, compute their velocity and maintain a count of strikes per cluster. To illustrate the use of the lighting detection network for observing, we compared network reports and those made by observer. Based on the results, it is apparent that the lighting detection system has great potential as a operational tool for the meteorologist.
Subjects: Lightning, Observations, Forecasting, Automatic meteorological stations
Places: United States