HR: 1340h
AN: AE33A-0181    [Abstracts]
TI: New and Improved Los Alamos Sferic Array for Lightning Observations
AU: * Shao, X
EM: xshao@lanl.gov
AF: Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Pongratz, M
EM: mpongratz@lanl.gov
AF: Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Regan, A
EM: aregan@lanl.gov
AF: Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Stanley, M
EM: stanleym@lanl.gov
AF: Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Harlin, J
EM: harlin@lanl.gov
AF: Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Speakman, S
EM: speakman@lanl.gov
AF: Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ISR-2, MS D436, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AB: In the spring of 2004, Los Alamos National Laboratory deployed eight fast field change sensors in northern-central Florida to observe the lightning activity in the surrounding areas. Six of the sensors formed a relatively dense array that covers an area of about 100km x 150km centered near Palatka. The other two sensors were located more remotely at Tampa and Tallahassee, over 200 km from the array center. Compared to our previous sferic array in Florida that consisted of five stations and was spread over the entire state, the current one was planned to provide more detailed lightning observations over the central array and at the same time to maintain the capability of long distance detection with the two remote stations. The electronics and data acquisition for the individual sensor were also improved substantially. The system is more stable and the noise level is significantly reduced. The trigger system is now software-based so that various and sophisticated trigger criteria can be easily implemented. The new system eliminated the "dead time" and is able to catch every pulse above the trigger threshold. Each station is equipped with an upgraded GPS receiver that time-tags the data at 50ns accuracy. The array has been operating continuously from April, 2004, and obtained a large amount of data for Hurricanes Charley and Frances. In this presentation, we will give an overview of the array and the observations. Detailed operation and results will be presented in other companion talks.
DE: 3324 Lightning
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting