–How do lightning locating systems detect lightning?
Vocabulary: vulnerable, meteorologists, impetus, urban, bedrock, increments, divert, quantifying, electromagnetic, phenomenon Extension Activities: 1. Research how lightning locating systems detect lightning by tracking certain wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.
To identify the causative lightnings of early VLF events, we analysed World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) data (Dowden et al., 2008) for lightnings located within 500 km off the TRGCPs, and which occurred within 100 ms of the occurrence of early VLF events.
Early VLF events coincident with WWLLN-detected lightnings, located within 500 km off the TRGCPs, show the possibility of VLF perturbations produced by wide-angle scattering.
The main findings of the present study are summarized as follows: (1) Early VLF events coincident with WWLLN-detected lightnings, located within 500 km off the TRGCPs, show the possibility of VLF perturbations produced by wide-angle scattering.
For the early/slow event in panel (b), WWLLN detected a lightning discharge located at geog.
Early VLF events due to lightning discharges located ±50 100 km off the TRGCPs have been attributed to narrow-angle forward scattering (Inan et al., 1995), whereas those due to lightning discharges located ±100 500 km off the TRGCP (or even behind the receiver) have been attributed to wide-angle scattering (Dowden et al., 1996).
The lightning discharges located ±50 100 km around the receiver and/or transmitter have also been attributed to narrow-angle forward scattering, as the area with perturbed electron density due to lightning discharges would overlap the transmitter or receiver.
They attributed these VLF perturbation events to narrow-angle forward scattering from enhanced ionization associated with lightning discharges located ±50 km off the TRGCP and having a lateral extent of ∼100 150 km.
In contrast, about 27% (20 out of 74) were produced by wide-angle scattering from conductivity perturbations associated with WWLLN-detected causative lightning discharges located within 100 500 km off the TRGCPs.
The simultaneous occurrence of early/fast events both on NPM and NLK (panels 7(c) and 7 d)) indicates that the causative lightning was located within the NPM-Suva path (in the low-latitude belt), therefore, the perturbation event observed on NLK is certainly an early/fast event because WEP associated perturbations on a latitude path as that of NPM-Suva are unlikely to occur.
