Publications

Home
Literature
Publications

Request Information Contact Our Team of Experts

SLS actively participates in major academic and industry conferences related to lightning physics, lightning protection, and grounding where the latest research and information are exchanged among scientists and engineers from around the world. Some of our recent publications are provided below.

Merlin Low Detection Efficiency Study Results - First Two Years

SLS recently presented a paper at the 2022 ICLP in Cape Town, South Africa titled “Merlin Low Detection Efficiency Study Results - First Two Years”.

In 2019, the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) funded a study for Scientific Lightning Solutions, LLC (SLS) of Titusville, FL to evaluate the detection efficiency (DE) of the Mesoscale Eastern Range Lightning Information Network (MERLIN) for lightning strikes to tall structures and/or large catenary wire lightning protection systems.

The primary goal of the current study is to determine if the apparent MERLIN DE difference for strokes attaching to tall structures versus strikes to nearby ground is statistically significant, and if so, provide the resultant data to Vaisala (the MERLIN vendor) so that MERLIN can be tuned to improve DE for strokes to tall structures without degrading the overall performance of the system.

Performance Evaluation of Non-Conventional Lightning Protection Systems Based on NLDN Data

SLS recently presented a paper at the 2022 ICLP in Cape Town, South Africa titled “Performance Evaluation of Non-Conventional Lightning Protection Systems Based on NLDN Data”.

Non-conventional LPS, including static charge dissipation devices, early streamer emission devices (ESE), charge transfer systems (CTS) and lightning suppressors/eliminators have been installed on critical infrastructure in the United States and abroad. In our paper, 25 years of NLDN data were analyzed for two prominent sites in the southeastern United States to illustrate that vendor claims of lightning prevention for CTS are inaccurate, misleading, and dangerous. We examine how the lightning incidence and historical ground stroke densities are affected by the installation of CTS.

“Chaotic” dart leaders in triggered lightning: Electric fields, X-rays, and source locations

We present the first published observations of “chaotic” dart leaders in triggered-lightning discharges. We examine four leaders that exhibited “chaotic” electric field derivative (dE/dt) signatures in their final 10 to 12 ms...

EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF CGLSS II AND U.S. NLDN USING GROUND-TRUTH DATA FROM LAUNCH COMPLEX 39B, KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA

A new comprehensive lightning instrumentation system has been designed for Launch Complex 39B (LC39B) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida...

Comments on Recent Observations of Faintly Luminous Formations (FLF) Captured Using Phantom High-Speed Cameras

During 2015, the high-speed camera network at Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was used to study a newly-reported optical phenomenon associated with the attachment process of lightning leaders to ground...

Attempts to create ball lightning with triggered lightning

We describe attempts to create ball lightning by directing lightning, triggered from natural thunderclouds using the rocket-and-wire technique, through a variety of materials...

High‐speed video observations of a lightning stepped leader

High‐speed video images of eight branches of a lightning stepped leader recorded at a frame rate of 300 kiloframes per second (kfps) (3.33 ms exposure) are analyzed, representing the fastest published frame rate measurements of stepped leader stepping by about 1 order of magnitude and the first observations of space stems/leaders associated with stepped leaders...

Geometrical and electrical characteristics of the initial stage in Florida triggered lightning

We characterize the geometrical and electrical characteristics of the initial stages of nine Florida triggered lightning discharges using a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) and measured channel-base currents...

EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CGLSS AND NLDN SYSTEMS BASED ON TWO YEARS OF GROUND-TRUTH DATA FROM LAUNCH COMPLEX 39B, KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA

From May 2011 through July 2013, the lightning instrumentation at Launch Complex 39B (LC39B) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, has obtained high-speed video records and field change waveforms (dE/dt and three-axis dH/dt) for 54 negative polarity return strokes whose strike termination locations and times are known with accuracy of the order of 10 m or less and 1 μs, respectively...

The attachment process of rocket-triggered lightning dart-stepped leaders

Time-correlated 1.54 μs high-speed video frames, channel-base current and current derivative (dI/dt), and electric field derivative (dE/dt) measurements are used to analyze the attachment process of triggered lightning dart-stepped leaders...

Correlated lightning mapping array and radar observations of the initial stages of three sequentially triggered Florida lightning discharges

Correlated Lightning Mapping Array and vertical-scan radar images are presented for three rocket-and-wire triggered lightning flashes that occurred sequentially within 17 min in the presence of a decaying multicellular convective storm system over north-central Florida...

Evaluation of the Performance Characteristics of MERLIN and NLDN Based on Two Years of Ground-Truth Data from Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

From May-October, 2015, a local lightning locating system at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS)/Kennedy Space Center (KSC) recorded high-speed video images and wideband rate of change of electric field waveforms for nearby lightning return strokes with accurate strike termination locations and times of the order of 10 m and 100 ns, respectively.

Close Observations of Forked and Upward-Illumination Return Strokes at the Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

A total of 232 well-resolved multiple ground contact flashes were recorded via high-speed video at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) during 2014 and 2015.

New Triggered Lightning Testing Capabilities at the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing (ICLRT)

Scientific Lightning Solutions (SLS) has partnered with the University of Florida with the purpose of conducting real lightning testing operations at the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing (ICLRT).