HR: 0800h
AN: AE21A-0986    [Abstracts]
TI: Performance & Initial Results of the Houston LDAR Network
AU: * Ely, B L
EM: bely@tamu.edu
AF: Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences Texas A&M University, 1204 Eller O&M Building, College Station, TX 77843-3150 United States
AU: Orville, R E
EM: rorville@tamu.edu
AF: Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences Texas A&M University, 1204 Eller O&M Building, College Station, TX 77843-3150 United States
AU: Carey, L D
EM: larry_carey@tamu.edu
AF: Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences Texas A&M University, 1204 Eller O&M Building, College Station, TX 77843-3150 United States
AB: The Houston LDAR II Lightning Network, centered over the Houston Metropolitan area, began real-time operation in late July of 2005. The network currently consists of 10 VHF Time-of-Arrival (TOA) sensors with an average baseline of 25 km between sensors. Each sensor is configured to the maximum data resolution of 100 μs, which allows the detection of up to 10,000 VHF lightning sources per second. This data is archived onto hard disk at each sensor for retrieval and future analysis. Due to network bandwidth constraints, the real-time data, used for thunderstorm warning and case selection, is decimated to 50%. Initial results show the network is able to detect VHF lightning sources out to approximately 200 kilometers and a reliable range of around 100 kilometers. Additional network performance results will be presented. Real-time data is disseminated to participating schools, colleges, & businesses through an easy to use website. The website displays a plot of VHF lightning sources of the last 6 minutes on a simple plan view of the Houston Metro region, which is updated every 2 minutes. In addition, the website user may loop through the last half hour of images to examine direction of motion and change in VHF source activity.
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
DE: 3314 Convective processes
DE: 3324 Lightning
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005