Phys.org February 15, 2023
A team of researchers in the US (Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology) developed and deployed a new 3-dimensional broadband radio frequency interferometric mapping and polarization system (BIMAP-3D) which provides an unprecedented capability in high-resolution, time-evolving 3D lightning source mapping and 3D source polarization detection for detailed study of lightning discharge physics. In this article they described the BIMAP-3D system design, a generalized and analytical 2D interferometry technique for noncoplanar antenna array, a two-stage 3D mapping technique based on geometric triangulation and baseline-based differential time of arrival, and a technique to reconstruct the polarization orientation in 3D space by combining the 2D polarization results from two-station observations. They also demonstrated and discussed the initial lightning results, including 3D maps for a hybrid intracloud and cloud-to-ground flash and for a normal intracloud flash, development of abnormal K-change leaders, and polarization signatures for a K-change leader. They found that with the two-stage 3D mapping techniques, the sources could be located to meters accuracy for a favorable event that occurs between the two stations and find the polarization vectors for the example K leader are mostly orthogonal to the leader channel after the full 3D polarization analysis. Detailed analysis of more specific discharge processes will be reported in later studies… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
In a new study, scientists developed a new way to map lightning in 3D, both inside and outside a cloud. Credit: Mathias Krumbholz/Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA 3.0