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LOFAR Lightning Imaging: Mapping Lightning With Nanosecond Precision
Author(s) -
Hare B. M.,
Scholten O.,
Bonardi A.,
Buitink S.,
Corstanje A.,
Ebert U.,
Falcke H.,
Hörandel J. R.,
Leijnse H.,
Mitra P.,
Mulrey K.,
Nelles A.,
Rachen J. P.,
Rossetto L.,
Rutjes C.,
Schellart P.,
Thoudam S.,
Trinh T. N. G.,
ter Veen S.,
Winchen T.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2017jd028132
Subject(s) - lofar , lightning (connector) , flash (photography) , remote sensing , upper atmospheric lightning , lightning strike , physics , radio telescope , geology , meteorology , thunderstorm , astronomy , optics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
Lightning mapping technology has proven instrumental in understanding lightning. In this work we present a pipeline that can use lightning observed by the LOw‐Frequency ARray (LOFAR) radio telescope to construct a 3‐D map of the flash. We show that LOFAR has unparalleled precision, on the order of meters, even for lightning flashes that are over 20 km outside the area enclosed by LOFAR antennas (∼3,200 km 2 ), and can potentially locate over 10,000 sources per lightning flash. We also show that LOFAR is the first lightning mapping system that is sensitive to the spatial structure of the electrical current during individual lightning leader steps.