Deployment and Initial Results from the North Georgia Lightning Mapping Array

The Severe Storms Research Center (SSRC) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is deploying and bringing into operation a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) to provide high spatial and temporal resolution 3D lightning imaging in near real time for the north Georgia area. The North Georgia Lightning Mapping Array (NGLMA) consists of eight VHF sensors developed by New Mexico Tech. These sensor nodes are located at research facilities, college campuses and government facilities in and near the metropolitan Atlanta area. A central processing computer is housed at the Cobb County Research Facility of GTRI and is used to collect and process VHF signals from the sensors and provide 3D total lightning data.

The differing deployment strategies of the sensors and the integration and processing of their data by a central computer at GTRI SSRC will be discussed. Preliminary results of the NGLMA are presented. Future applications of the data from the NGLMA, both independently, as well as in concert with other LMAs and auxiliary data will also be discussed.