92nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Monday, 23 January 2012
Vaisala National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN®): Quality Updates
Hall E (New Orleans Convention Center )
Amitabh Nag, Vaisala Inc., Tucson, AZ; and M. J. Murphy, N. Hembury, and J. A. Cramer

Recently, major updates have been made to the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network® (NLDN®). The occurrence-to-display latency time for cloud-to-ground and cloud lightning flashes has been halved from 30 to 15 seconds or less. This is a result of enhanced communication and data processing abilities at the Tucson operations center. The location accuracy of the NLDN has improved from about 500 m to about 250 m in the interior U.S. by taking into account propagation across uneven terrain and varying ground conductivity. These performance characteristics continue to be validated by triggered lightning, tower, and camera studies. Older generation sensors (IMPACT) have been upgraded to the latest technology and sensor software with LS7001, allowing digital filtering for further improvements in processing and cloud lightning detection efficiency. Additionally, a new generation of VHF total lightning digital sensors (TLS200) is being installed in regions across the U.S. to enhance cloud lightning detection.

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