HR: 1330h
AN: AE22A-1111    [PDF]
TI: WWLL Global Lightning Detection System Regional Validation Study in Brazil
AU: * Lay, E H
EM: erinlay@ess.washington.edu
AF: Dept. Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195-1310 United States
AU: * Lay, E H
EM: erinlay@ess.washington.edu
AF: Physics Department, University of Washington, PO Box 351560, Seattle, WA 98195-1560 United States
AU: Holzworth, R H
EM: bobholz@ess.washington.edu
AF: Dept. Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195-1310 United States
AU: Thomas, J N
EM: jnt@ess.washington.edu
AF: Dept. Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195-1310 United States
AU: Dowden, R L
EM: ebd@physics.otago.ac.nz
AF: Low Frequency Electromagnetic Research, Ltd, 161 Pine Hill Road, Dunedin, 9001 New Zealand
AU: Rodger, C J
EM: crodger@physics.otago.ac.nz
AF: Department of Physics, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, none New Zealand
AU: Pinto, O
EM: osmar@dge.inpe.br
AF: DGE/INPE, Av. Astronautas 1758, Sao Jose dos Campos, SP 12227-010 Brazil
AB: The World Wide Lightning Location network (WWLL) is an experimental lightning detection network, which will eventually provide real time global coverage with 10 km location accuracy and at least 50% detection efficiency. This paper provides an analysis of the WWLL in a region of Brazil where the VLF lightning receivers are very distant ($>$7000 km) to estimate the worst case scenario of location accuracy. The detection accuracy in Brazil is analyzed by comparison to a local Brazilian lightning detection network with respect to time, location, and peak current of the lightning strokes. We find that in Brazil, WWLL detection has a high threshold on the peak return stroke current, resulting in detection of only about 0.8% of the total lightning strokes. However, the detected strokes have a location accuracy of $20 \pm 13$ km and a temporal accuracy of $0.0641 \pm 0.1935$ ms, providing a good overview of regions of local lightning activity in real time.
DE: 0609 Antennas
DE: 3324 Lightning
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting