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Meteorological applications of lightning data
Author(s) -
Orville Richard E.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg025i003p00411
Subject(s) - lightning (connector) , meteorology , lightning detection , radar , remote sensing , upper atmospheric lightning , satellite , environmental science , lightning strike , atmospheric electricity , cloud computing , thunderstorm , geology , computer science , geography , telecommunications , aerospace engineering , engineering , physics , electric field , operating system , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
The significance of the meteorological applications of lightning data is that in recent years we have acquired the technology to use the observations of lightning in many areas of operational meteorology. Consider the past for a moment. In the 1940's, we began to observe the characteristics of cloud systems with radar; in the 1960's, we observed them with satellites in the visible and infrared wavelengths; and in the 1970's and 1980's, we developed the techniques to monitor lightning activity from satellites and to detect the lightning to ground from cloud systems using ground based lightning detection networks. The combination of radar, satellite, and lightning observations of weather systems has opened a new area of applied meteorology that is attracting the interest of both the research and the operational meteorologist.