C. Thery, Evaluation of LPATS data using VHF interferometric observations of lightning flashes during the Eulinox experiment, ATMOS RES, 56(1-4), 2001, pp. 397-409
During the Eulinox (European Lightning Nitrogen Oxides Project) campaign, t
wo lightning sensors were available: a Lightning Position and Tracking Syst
em (LPATS), and the ONERA VHF interferometric (ITF) mapper. We looked for t
he typical VHF signature of positive and negative cloud-to-ground flashes i
n TTF records in order to separate intra-cloud (IC) flashes from cloud-to-g
round (CG) flashes during five periods from 2 days. Then we used this set o
f data to check the efficiency of the South Germany LPATS. We concluded tha
t this LPATS detected nearly all the negative CG flashes, but one-fourth of
LPATS negative strokes are in fact IC flashes. The ratio of misinterpretat
ion is much smaller (15%) for multi-stroke negative CG flashes. The LPATS r
ecorded 62% of the positive strokes, but only 43% with the right polarity,
and only 25% of LPATS positive strokes actually belonged to a positive CG f
lash. This reliability ratio is 100% if we consider only high-intensity LPA
TS strokes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.