How to lightning detection sensors detect electromagnetic signals from lightning?
A sensor detects a cloud-to-ground flash when five specific criteria are satisfied. These criteria come from the time series of the electromagnetic signal that is produced by a typical cloud-to-ground flash over a small portion of a second. When the sensor observes that these features have been satisfied, it declares that a cloud-to-ground flash has been detected. This report is combined with similar information from several other sensors. The data from multiple sensors are then used to calculate the position of the flash by complex geometry and trigonometry at the National Lightning Detection Network Control Center at the company’s facility in Tucson, Arizona.
