A global ligthning location algorithm based on the electromagnetic signature in the Schumann resonance band

Abstract

A new improved algorithm has been developed to geolocate intense lightning flashes around the globe. The method uses ELF (extremely low frequency) radiation propagated in the Earth-ionosphere cavity to locate unusually intense lightning strokes. Two parameters are needed to locate the lightning discharge from a single station: bearing and source-observer distance (SOD). The bearing was obtained using the Poynting vector (E × H), while the SOD was obtained on the basis of the modeling of the electric and magnetic ELF spectra and the comparison with experimental data. To check the accuracy of our algorithm, we used primarily infrared cloud top temperature images of deep convective storms from geostationary satellites (METEOSAT, GOES, and GMS). Analysis of ELF data from our field station of 147 events gave an average source-observer distance error of 660 km (7.05%) and azimuth error of 1.9°. Of the 147 events, 72% had positive polarity, while the majority (59%) occurred over the oceans. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.