Customized Lightning Decision Support System

Weather Decision Technologies Inc. (WDT) and Earth Networks, Inc. (EN) have partnered together to deliver a self-contained Lightning Decision Support System to an aviation customer in Asia. WDT is a private company that specializes in meteorological data integration, algorithms, and international technology transfer with regard to the latest state-of-the-science developments in the fields of meteorology, hydrology, and aviation. WDT has developed and deployed several systems internationally including China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, the Philippines, Thailand, and the UAE. EN is a private company that provides meteorological and other environmental instrumentation, including lightning sensor networks.

The Lightning Decision Support System (LDSS) uses data from the Earth Networks Total Lightning System (ENTLS) and integrates these data with radar data when available to produce nowcasts out to 60 minutes in advance of lightning location and intensity. When radar data is unavailable, a grid of lightning density is used. This is coupled with databases of customer asset locations to provide automated warnings of lightning activity and Estimated Times of Arrival/Departure for a given asset.

Summary

This abstract has briefly described the LDSS as deployed to an aviation customer for the purpose of monitoring the current hazards and anticipated threats of lightning to customer assets and operations. The LDSS is a part of WDT's and EN's history of providing quality instrumentation, nowcasting systems, and unique technologies to operational settings internationally. The purpose of this presentation will be to illustrate and discuss the details and components comprising the LDSS and the transfer of this service to the customer.