New era of lightning detection from space: application to electric power systems

Abstract

Information about lightning activity and its parameters is necessary to design and evaluate the lightning protection of an electrical power system. This information can be obtained from ground-based lightning detection networks that provide information on cloud-to-ground lightning strikes with a location accuracy of few hundred meters. Recently, the first satellite-based lightning optical detectors are operating continuously from geostationary orbits. These imagers observe the luminosity escaping from clouds to detect and locate total lightning activity with a spatial accuracy of several kilometers. This allows delineating the initiation and propagation (sometimes over tens to hundreds of kilometers before striking the ground) not observable by the ground-based networks. In this paper, we explore the use of this new technology for lightning protection in power systems.