Practical Features of 3D Lightning Mapping System FALMA

we have examined the accuracy of locating return strokes with Fast Antenna Lightning Mapping Array (FALMA) after excluding CG flashes that may have multiple striking points with different locations. The mean and median errors are 27.4 m and 15.6 m, respectively. Several ground truths collected are basically supportive of such high accuracy of FALMA. It appears that FALMA can be used to assist in locating efficiently the damage mark caused by lightning discharges on various power transmission and distribution equipment. With the data recorded by FALMA during the summer of 2017, which include more 3300 CG flashes, we have performed a simulation on forecasting CG flashes with FALMA at various prediction radiuses and forecast times. With a prediction radius of 10 km and a forecast time of 30 minutes, we found that 99.5% CG flashes can be forecasted. For 98% CG flashes, the prediction lead time is more than 5 minutes. Both the failure prediction and the short lead time deteriorate with the decreasing prediction radius. For different types of applications, the prediction time can be optimized to be as short as several minutes to about 30 minutes.