http://wwlln.net/publications/dowden.toga.article.pdf

VLF lightning location by time of group arrival (TOGA) at multiple sites

Lightning and climate: A review

. An experimental Very Low Frequency (VLF) World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) has been developed through collaborations with research institutions across the world, providing global real-time locations of lightning discharges. As of April 2006, the network included 25 stations providing coverage for much of the Earth. In this paper we examine the detection efficiency of the WWLLN by comparing the locations from this network with lightning location data purchased from a commercial lightning location network operating in New Zealand. Our analysis confirms that WWLLN favours high peak current return stroke lightning discharges, and that discharges with larger currents are observed by more stations across the global network. We then construct a first principles detection efficiency model to describe the WWLLN, combining calibration information for each station with theoretical modelling to describe the expected amplitudes of the VLF sferics observed by the network. This detection efficiency model allows the prediction of the global variation in WWLLN lightning detection, and an estimate of the minimum CG return stroke peak current required to trigger the network. There are strong spatial variations across the globe, primarily due to station density and sensitivity. The WWLLN is currently best suited to study the occurrence and impacts of high peak-current lightning. For example, in 2005 about 12% of the global elve-producing lightning will have been located by the network. Since the lightning-EMP which produce elves has a high mean rate (210 per minute) it has the potential to significantly influence the ionosphere on regional scales.

https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/24/3197/2006/angeo-24-3197-2006.pdf

Detection efficiency of the VLF World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN): initial case study

The development of a new observational system called LISDAD (Lightning Imaging Sensor Demonstration and Display) has enabled a study of severe weather in central Florida. The total flash rates for storms verified to be severe are found to exceed 60 flashes/min, with some values reaching 500 flashes/min. Similar to earlier results for thunderstorm microbursts, the peak flash rate precedes the severe weather at the ground by 5-20 minutes. A distinguishing feature of severe storms is the presence of lightning "jumps"-abrupt increases in flash rate in advance of the maximum rate for the storm. ne systematic total lightning precursor to severe weather of all kinds-wind, hail, tornadoes-is interpreted in terms of the updraft that sows the seeds aloft for severe weather at the surface and simultaneously stimulates the ice microphysics that drives the lightning activity.

/pdf/the-behavior-of-total-lightning-activity-in-severe-florida-4p53zf12on.pdf

The Behavior of Total Lightning Activity in Severe Florida Thunderstorms

ELF and VLF radio waves

Ground flashes with positive polarity associated with both sprites and elves excite the Earth's Schumann resonances to amplitudes several times greater than the background resonances. Theoretical predictions for dielectric breakdown in the mesosphere are tested using ELF methods to evaluate vertical charge moments of positive ground flashes. Comparisons of the measured time constants for lightning charge transfer with the electrostatic relaxation time at altitudes of nighttime sprite initiation (50–70 km) generally validate the electrostatic assumption in predictions made initially by Wilson [1925]. The measured charge moments (Q dS = 200–2000 C-km) are large in comparison with ordinary negative lightning but are generally insufficient to account for conventional air breakdown at sprite altitudes. The measured charge moments, however, are sufficient to account for electron runaway breakdown, and the long avalanche length in this mechanism also accounts for the exclusive association of sprites with ground flashes of positive polarity. The association of elves with large peak currents (50–200 kA) measured by the National Lightning Detection Network in a band pass beyond the Schumann resonance range is consistent with an electromagnetic pulse mechanism for these events.

/pdf/criteria-for-sprites-and-elves-based-on-schumann-resonance-2dd42sam6w.pdf

Criteria for sprites and elves based on Schumann resonance observations

Two distinct measures of the Earth's Schumann resonances-the background and the transients--are studied through comparisons at the mesoscale and at the continental scale. A rough proportionality is shown between the far more abundant afternoon lightning activity and the larger positive mesoscale discharges that make sprites and simultaneously ring the Earth-ionosphere cavity to levels higher than the integration of all other lightnings.

E. Huang

Papers

Criteria for sprites and elves based on Schumann resonance observations

The Relationship Between the Background and Transient Signals in Schumann Resonances