Community-based lightning detection in Europe: studying the detection efficiency of the BlitzOrtung network - a case study concerning lightning climatology over Hungary
- 1Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science (ELKH EPSS), Sopron, Hungary
- 2Doctoral School of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- 3Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
Being one of the natural hazards and an indicator of severe weather, studying and evaluating lightning activity has a well recognized role in scientific research. The detection of lightning activity with a good efficiency is crucial not only to the protection of human lives and minimizing economic losses, but to get a better understanding of Earth’s climate system as well.
There are several solutions for lightning detection implemented both on ground (e.g., Earth Networks, EUCLID, LINET, WWLLN, etc.) and in space (e.g., GLM, LIS, OTD) providing a big amount of reliable data. The BlitzOrtung (BO) is a dynamically developing and community-based lightning detection network (Wanke et al., 2014). By 2018, the BO had circa 2000 stations around the globe (Narita et al., 2018) and their data are used widely in Europe. However, there is a need to evaluate the detection efficiency and compare the parameters of the detected lightning strokes with the ones derived from other networks (Narita et al., 2018).
In this study, we aim at evaluating the performance of the BO network on a statistical basis. First, the detected lightning strokes are paired with those reported by the LINET and WWLLN systems using the time point and location information. Then the geographical distribution as well as the temporal stability of the number of detected events and the percentage of paired events are examined. The first results of a pilot analysis over Hungary (45.5°-49° N, 16°-23° E) in Central Europe will be presented. This project serves to establish a comparison-based method for the evaluation of the lightning climatology of a region.
Narita, T. et al. (2018): A study of lightning location system (Blitz) based on VLF sferics, 34th International Conference on Lightning Protection, 978-1-5386-6635-7/18/$31.00,
Wanke, E., Andersen, R., and Volgnandt, T. (2014): A World-Wide Low Cost Community-Based Time-Of-Arrival Lightning Detection and Lightning Location Network, http://www.blitzortung.org/Documents/TOA_Blitzortung_RED.pdf
How to cite: Buzás, A., Bozóki, T., and Bór, J.: Community-based lightning detection in Europe: studying the detection efficiency of the BlitzOrtung network - a case study concerning lightning climatology over Hungary, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-14243, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-14243, 2023.
