Map of LMA station locations in Oklahoma

Map of Oklahoma

Here are some MPG movies from the analyses of two lightning discharges in Oklahoma. The plots have five windows in them:

The top t vs. z plot shows all the points located in the given time interval. The time is given in seconds, and the altitude z of the radiation source is given in kilometers. The number of points can be limited if desired. For example, two distinct discharges at different locations could occur at the same time, so the operator may choose to look at only one of the dishcarges in detail. Or the operator may narrow in on a particular event in time which he does not want obsured by other data points. The lower four plots show data points from the top plot which have been selected for such reasons. The lower t vs. z plot shows the time development of the altitude of the selected points. The x vs. y plot shows a plan view of the lightning discharge, where x is the distance east or west of the center of the array, and y is the distance north or south of the center. All distances are given in kilometers. The small squares in the x vs. y plot show the locations of the LMA stations. The x vs. z and y vs. z plots show the projections of the points on the xz and yz planes.

• Discharge showing distinct charge layers at different elevations. Note the development of the dendritic structure of the discharge.
  11 June 1998 06:33:20 UTC (645 KB Animated GIF)

• Cloud-to-ground discharge followed by intercloud discharge. Note the well-defined leaders in the CG. The triangles are locations and times of CG strokes as determined by the National Lightning Detection Network. Note that, in the CG, positive streamers propagate in the negative charge region, radially away from the area of initial breakdown. The subsequent IC develops over the top of of the CG.
  11 June 1998 06:19:39 UTC (1.5 MB Animated GIF)

• Discharge near the end of a storm which appears to be inverted. There are two distinct charge layers, but streamers appear to originate in the upper layer and propogate to the lower layer. This is inverted from most intercloud discharges in which negative streamers originate in the lower negative charge layer and propogate into the upper positive charge layer. Also note how the lower charge region decreases in altitude to the east.
  20 June 1998 03:43:45 UTC (1.8 MB Animated GIF)