Overview of Real-Time Lightning Detection Systems and Their Meteorological Uses

摘要

Real-time lightning detection systems have been deployed for a number of purposes in the United States and many other locations across the world. The report begins with a brief description of the lightning discharge and the terminology associated with it. Then are described the two most widely-deployed systems that use direction-finder and time-of-arrival concepts, followed by the method of electromagnetic interferometry. A short summary is provided of non-meteorological uses of data from these three types of lightning networks by facilities for forest and range fire detection, utility agencies, and aerospace and military installations. The report concludes with a listing of nearly 400 publications that use or refer to data from real-time lightning detection networks.