Real time processing and display of lightning mapping data

The use of lightning mapping data for weather nowcasting has been made possible by the ability to ingest and process the sensor data in near real time. In this paper we review how this is done in the different LMA networks and address the issues of data latency and quality associated with such processing. An important feature of the lightning mapping systems is that the electrical activity is monitored simultaneously over the full observational domain and can therefore be updated more quickly than radar data. Useful and practical update times are typically every two minutes, but the overall age of the data is increased by the time required to communicate and display the data for the end user, typically making the total latency in the range 2 to 4 minutes. Once processed, another important question is how the data can be displayed or automatically interpreted in a readily usable manner. The first order information consists of plan representations of vertically integrated source density, whose relative values within a storm system and temporal trends provide the strongest measure of convective development. The mapping data also contain important altitude information, but it is difficult within the confines of the AWIPS architecture to display or otherwise make use of this information. To gain the full benefit of lightning mapping data, display and interpretation techniques need to be developed that take advantage of the altitude information.