Lightning Geolocation and Flash Rates from LF Radio Observations During the RELAMPAGO Field Campaign
Journal Article
Overview
abstract
The lightning data products generated by the Low-Frequency (LF) radio; lightning locating system (LLS) deployed during the RELAMPAGO field; campaign in Argentina provide a valuable dataset to research the; lightning evolution and characteristics of convective storms that; produce high-impact weather. LF LLS datasets offer a practical range for; mesoscale studies, allowing for the observation of lightning; characteristics of storms such as Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) or; large convective lines that travel longer distances which are not; necessarily staying in range of regional VHF-based lightning detection; systems throughout their lifetime. LF LLSs also provide different; information than optical space-borne lightning detectors. Lightning; measurements exclusive to LF systems include discharge peak current,; lightning polarity, and lightning type classification based on the; lightning-emitted radio waveform. Furthermore, these measurements can; provide additional information on flash rates (e.g. positive CG flash; rate) or Narrow Bipolar Events (NBE) which may often be associated with; dynamically intense convection. In this paper, the geolocation and data; processing of the LF dataset collected during RELAMPAGO is fully; described and its performance characterized, with location accuracy; better than 10 km. The detection efficiency (DE) of the dataset is; compared to that of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and; spatiotemporal DE losses in the LF dataset are discussed. Storm; case-studies on November 10, 2018, highlight the strengths of the; dataset, which include robust flash clustering and insightful flash rate; and peak current measures, while illustrating how its limitations,; including DE losses, can be managed.
