LOFAR Lightning Imaging : Mapping Lightning With Nanosecond Precision

• Lightning mapping technology has proven instrumental in understanding lightning. In this work we present a pipeline that can use lightning observed by the LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) radio telescope to construct a 3-D map of the flash. We show that LOFAR has unparalleled precision, on the order of meters, even for lightning flashes that are over 20km outside the area enclosed by LOFAR antennas (approximate to 3,200km(2)), and can potentially locate over 10,000 sources per lightning flash. We also show that LOFAR is the first lightning mapping system that is sensitive to the spatial structure of the electrical current during individual lightning leader steps.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

lightning

lightning mapping

LOFAR

time of arrival

leader propagation

Physics

Fysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)