By
Greentech Lead Team:
Earth Networks, a provider of weather, lightning and climate observation
networks, has launched PulseRad, a radar alternative based on total lightning
detection.
PulseRad
empowers meteorologists with more information to improve forecasting and lead
times for dangerous storms with the potential for flooding or severe weather
such as damaging winds, large hail, tornadoes, and drought in places with
significant convective weather, and where actual radar coverage is incomplete
or nonexistent, for example, mountainous terrain, oceans, remote regions and
developing countries.
“Researchers
have long held that a correlation exists between lightning and increasing storm
strength, but until recently there has been limited availability of in-cloud
lightning data, which is required to establish this correlation. With
information from the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, we are showing
that a correlation not only exists, but that the data can also be used to
create an alternative radar solution for convective storms in which lightning
is present,” said Earth Networks Chief ArchitectCharlie Liu.
While radar
is a proven and useful tool providing great benefits to meteorologists, many
areas of the world lack the financial resources and technical expertise to
deploy, operate and maintain a radar solution. PulseRad provides similar
benefits to radar at lower cost, and can be quickly implemented.
This
capability is appropriate for regions where convective storms pose a serious
threat to lives and property. In the near future, capabilities will be expanded
to include non-convective storms using satellite and model data. PulseRad is
also the first practical alternative radar solution capable of coverage on a
national and continental scale.
PulseRad
tracks storm severity by estimating radar reflectivity (dBZ). In conjunction
with data from the Earth Networks Weather Network, PulseRad estimates rainfall
rates and accumulated precipitation for both short- and long-term events
lasting for minutes to months. PulseRad can serve as an effective
alternative for areas with limited or no radar coverage by tracking storm cells
and supporting automated alerting for severe weather on a more granular scale.
This
solution is enabled by the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, the largest
global sensor network for the detection of both in-cloud (IC) pulses and
cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning. PulseRad is the first proxy radar resource to
utilize total lightning to correlate total lightning flash rate (dBR) and radar
reflectivity.
Earth
Networks will incorporate PulseRad into its weather monitoring and severe
weather alerting offerings for utilities, agriculture, airports, emergency
response organizations and in other professional operations to track conditions
for timely decision making.