A Low-Cost System for Measuring Lightning Electric Field Waveforms, its Calibration and Application to Remote Measurements of Currents

A low-cost system for measuring lightning electric field waveforms (Lightning Detection and Waveform Storage System or LDWSS) is presented. The system has been developed for research and operational use in the Amazon region of Brazil. In order to quantify the magnitudes of recorded fields, the LDWSS was calibrated relative to the electric field measuring system operating at the Lightning Observatory in Gainesville (LOG), Florida. The various factors that can influence electric field measurements are discussed. As an example of application of the system, peak current of a return stroke in lightning triggered using the rocket-and-wire technique at Camp Blanding, Florida, was inferred using the corresponding electric field waveform recorded by LDWSS and compared with the directly measured current. Additionally, peak currents inferred from LDWSS field measurements were compared with those reported by the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network.