TY - JOUR
T1 - Two methods for correcting range-dependent limitations of Lightning Mapping Arrays
AU - Weiss, Stephanie A.
AU - MacGorman, Donald R.
AU - Bruning, Eric C.
AU - Chmielewski, Vanna C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments. The authors thank the three anonymous peer reviewers of this manuscript, whose comments made us think more deeply about the results presented and improved the overall quality of this work. Thank you to Doug Kennedy and Dennis Nealson, who helped install stations and who maintained operation of the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (OKLMA). The authors also acknowledge Paul Krehbiel, Bill Rison, Ron Thomas, Harald Edens, and others on their team at New Mexico Tech, who developed the Lightning Mapping Array and provided technical assistance for system operation and data processing. This research and the OKLMA were supported in part by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-00-1-0525, and by NOAA NESDIS Grants NA11OAR4320072 and NA16OAR4320115; NSF Grant 1063945; NOAA/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research under NOAA–University of Oklahoma Cooperative Agreement NA11OAR4320072, U.S. Department of Commerce; and NASA Grant NNX16AD24G.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Meteorological Society.
PY - 2018/6/1
Y1 - 2018/6/1
N2 - Lightning Mapping Arrays (LMAs) detect very high frequency (VHF) radiation produced by lightning as it propagates; however, VHF source detection efficiency drops off rapidly with range from the centers of the arrays, which results in a maximum of source points over the center of the network for large datasets. Using data from nearly one billion detected sources of various powers, an approximation of VHF source detection efficiency (relative to the number of sources detected within 25 km of the center of the array) for the Oklahoma LMA is calculated for different ranges and source powers. The calculated source detection efficiencies are then used to normalize the VHF source data out to a range of 125 km, as a method for correcting the detection efficiency drop-off with range. The data are also sorted into flashes using a popular flash-sorting algorithm in order to compare how well flash sorting corrects for detection efficiency drop-off with range compared to the normalization method. Both methods produce similar patterns and maxima of the lightning location, but the differences between them are identified and highlighted. The use of a flash-sorting algorithm is recommended for future studies involving large sets of data.
AB - Lightning Mapping Arrays (LMAs) detect very high frequency (VHF) radiation produced by lightning as it propagates; however, VHF source detection efficiency drops off rapidly with range from the centers of the arrays, which results in a maximum of source points over the center of the network for large datasets. Using data from nearly one billion detected sources of various powers, an approximation of VHF source detection efficiency (relative to the number of sources detected within 25 km of the center of the array) for the Oklahoma LMA is calculated for different ranges and source powers. The calculated source detection efficiencies are then used to normalize the VHF source data out to a range of 125 km, as a method for correcting the detection efficiency drop-off with range. The data are also sorted into flashes using a popular flash-sorting algorithm in order to compare how well flash sorting corrects for detection efficiency drop-off with range compared to the normalization method. Both methods produce similar patterns and maxima of the lightning location, but the differences between them are identified and highlighted. The use of a flash-sorting algorithm is recommended for future studies involving large sets of data.
KW - Filtering techniques
KW - Instrumentation/sensors
KW - Lightning
KW - Quality assurance/control
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049506835&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1175/JTECH-D-17-0213.1
DO - 10.1175/JTECH-D-17-0213.1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85049506835
SN - 0739-0572
VL - 35
SP - 1273
EP - 1282
JO - Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
JF - Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
IS - 6
ER -