Lightning Direction-Finding Systems for Forest Fire Detection

Extensive networks of magnetic direction-finding (DF) stations have been installed throughout the western United States and Alaska to facilitate early detection of lightning-caused fires. Each station contains a new wideband direction-finder that responds primarily to cloud-to-ground lightning and discriminates against cloud discharges and background noise. Good angle accuracy is obtained by measuring the lightning direction at just the time the return-stroke electromagnetic field reaches its initial peak. Lightning locations are calculated from the intersections of direction vectors and/or from the ratio of signal strengths recorded simultaneously at two, three, or four DF sites. The development of these systems has proved to be a significant aid in the detection of lightning-caused fires and in fire weather forecasting.