Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Detection of Atmospheric Lightning Activity with Ground-Based Radiofrequency Receivers – Establishment and Initial Results


Affiliations
1 National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
2 Regional Remote Sensing Centre (Central), NRSC, Nagpur 440 033, India
3 Regional Remote Sensing Centre (East), NRSC, Kolkata 700 156, India
 

Understanding atmospheric lightning flashes and their occurrences is one of the most important aspects of the Earth’s climate science. Real-time lightning data have profound importance in climate science, air-quality research and atmospheric nitrogen budget, apart from lightning being one of the major natural disasters. Keeping these in view, a lightning detection sensor (LDS) network has been established at six locations in India, viz. Kolkata, Ranchi, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur and Visakhapatnam. Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that it is possible to detect the phenomenon and identify vulnerable zones of lightning activity. We analysed the Kolkata, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam data during June–July 2017 to identify the areas with major impact by cloud-to-ground lightning events and also see if a warning can be provided based on single-sensor data. Status of the ongoing development in LDS network is discussed here based on the current understanding of existing lightning detection networks.

Keywords

Cloud-to-ground Events, Lighting Detection, Natural Hazards, Radiofrequency Sensors.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Pinto, Jr, O., Lightning in the Tropics: From a Source of Fire to a Monitoring System of Climate Changes, Nova Science Publishers, 2009.

  • Stolz, D. C., Businger, S. and Terpstra, A., Refining the relationship between lightning and convective rainfall over the ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 2014, 119, 964–981; doi:10.1002/2012JD018 819.

  • Illiyas Faisel, T., Mohan, K., Mani, S. K. and Pradeepkumar, A. P., Lightning risk in India: challenges in disaster compensation. Econ. Polit. Wkly., 2014, 49(3), 23–27.

  • Kayank, B. et al., The effect of lightning NOxproduction on surface ozone in the continental United States. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2008, 8, 5151–5159.

  • Price, C. G., Lightning applications in weather and climate re-search. Surv. Geophys., 2000; doi:10.1007/s10712-012-9218-7.

  • Romps, D. M., Seeley, J. T., Vollaro, D. and Molinari, J., Projected increase in lightning strikes in the United States due to global warming, Science, 2014, 346(6211), 851–854; doi:10.1126/science.1259100.

  • Taori, A., Das, S. K., Goenka, R., Gharai, B., Rao, P. V. N., Seshasai, M. V. R. and Tkahur, J., Round-the-clock measurements of aerosol optical thickness over Antarctica made using a dual im-ager system during January–February 2017. Remote Sensing Lett., 2018, 9(11), 1089–1098; doi:10.1080/2150704X.2018.1508909.

  • Kamalakar, V., Taori, A., Raghunath, K., Rao, S. V. B. and Jayaraman, A., On the Rayleigh Lidar capability enhancement for the measurements of waves at upper mesospheric altitudes having periodicity 0.5 to 2.0 hr. Int. J. Remote Sensing, 2013, 34(21), 7474–7486; doi:10.1080/01431161.2013.822599.

  • Sivakandan, M., Paulino, I., Taori, A. and Niranjan, K., Mesospheric gravity wave characteristics and identification of their sources around spring equinox over Indian low latitudes. Atmos. Meas. Techn., 2016, 9, 93–102; doi:10.5194/amt-9-93-2016.

  • Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Investigations on the atmospheric lightning: establishment of network, geolocation and identification of vulnerable ones. NRSC Technical Report, NRSC-ECSA-ACSG-ACSD-MAR-2018-1126-1.0, 2018.


Abstract Views: 411

PDF Views: 142




  • Detection of Atmospheric Lightning Activity with Ground-Based Radiofrequency Receivers – Establishment and Initial Results

Abstract Views: 411  |  PDF Views: 142

Authors

Alok Taori
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
Arun Suryavanshi
Regional Remote Sensing Centre (Central), NRSC, Nagpur 440 033, India
R. Goenka
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
B. Gharai
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
M. K. Madhav Haridas
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
M. V. R. Seshasai
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
D. Dutta
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
Uday Raj
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 500 037, India
Chiranjivi Jayaram
Regional Remote Sensing Centre (East), NRSC, Kolkata 700 156, India

Abstract


Understanding atmospheric lightning flashes and their occurrences is one of the most important aspects of the Earth’s climate science. Real-time lightning data have profound importance in climate science, air-quality research and atmospheric nitrogen budget, apart from lightning being one of the major natural disasters. Keeping these in view, a lightning detection sensor (LDS) network has been established at six locations in India, viz. Kolkata, Ranchi, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur and Visakhapatnam. Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that it is possible to detect the phenomenon and identify vulnerable zones of lightning activity. We analysed the Kolkata, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam data during June–July 2017 to identify the areas with major impact by cloud-to-ground lightning events and also see if a warning can be provided based on single-sensor data. Status of the ongoing development in LDS network is discussed here based on the current understanding of existing lightning detection networks.

Keywords


Cloud-to-ground Events, Lighting Detection, Natural Hazards, Radiofrequency Sensors.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi7%2F1112-1117