Performance evaluation of the National Lightning Detection Network in the vicinity of Albany, New York. Final report

This report summarizes final results of an independent evaluation of the performance of the US National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) in the vicinity of Albany, New York. The NLDN has been in existence since 1988, having been developed originally at the University at Albany. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), as the primary agency responsible for creation of the NLDN, has maintained an interest in improving and documenting the performance of the NLDN so that users of the data can be confident in general application of this information to their particular needs. The recent upgrade of the network to the IMPACT (IMProved Accuracy from Combined Technology) configuration, also partly funded by EPRI, created a new impetus for a critical assessment of NLDN performance. Global Atmospherics, Inc., (GAI) of Tucson, Arizona, the present owner and operator of the NLDN, completed this upgrade in late 1995. This upgraded configuration relies upon a mix of magnetic direction finding (DF) and time-of-arrival (TOA) sensor technology. Significantly improved performance was predicted as a consequence of this upgrade, especially with regard to the location accuracy of NLDN detected strokes. With the evolution noted above, including the onset of individual stroke processing, a new assessment of NLDNmore » performance was clearly overdue.« less