Desempeño de sensores de campo electrostático en sistemas de alerta de tormentas

Esta tesis presenta un estudio operacional y científico de sensores de campo electrostático mediante el análisis de tormentas eléctricas en tres lugares: Colombia (2010), usando una estación de medida en Bogotá; Florida - EE.UU (2009), usando 31 sensores en el Kennedy Space Center - KSC y Navarra - España (2010), con 11 molinos de campo en parques eólicos. En total se analizaron cerca de 67000 medidas de variaciones de campo eléctrico producidas por rayos. En cada sitio se uso adicionalmente información de redes de detección de rayos disponibles, incluyendo sistemas de detección total y de VHF. Mediante el uso de un volumen elevado de información en tres lugares, a latitudes y condiciones geográficas distintas, se generó conocimiento acerca de aspectos de grado científico como son la caracterización de modelos carga y estructura eléctrica de la nube de tormenta y de grado operacional como la calibración, efectos de la topografía y desempeño de criterios de predicción de rayos.Absteract. This thesis presents an operational and scientific study about electric field sensors by analyzing thunderstorm episodes in three places: Colombia (2010), using a measurement station in Bogot´a, Florida - USA (2009), using 31 electric filed mills in the Kennedy Space Center - KSC and Navarra - Spain (2010), using 11 field mills at wind farms. About 67000 electric field changes due to lightning flashes were analyzed. Further information from lightning location systems, including total lightning and VHF detections, was used. Thanks to the large amount of data in three places at different latitudes and geographical conditions, it was possible to generate scientific knowledge about the thundercloud charge models and structure and operational knowledge related to different aspects such as calibration, topographical effect and lightning warning criteria.Doctorad

Effects of the topography on the thundercloud electrostatic field measurements

This paper presents thunderstorm electrostatic field measurements carried out by electric field mills located at mountainous regions in Spain and Colombia. The profile of electric field changes ¿E due to lightning vs distance is computed by using data from a lightning location system. The effect of the topography on the ¿E vs distance profile is studied in order to identify necessary adjustments for field mills used as lightning warning systems affects by topographycal factors.Postprint (published version

Natural observatories for lightning research in Colombia

This paper presents a selected, not exhaustive, description of lightning research in Colombia over time, based on natural observatories for experimentation and measurement; and introduces the DABEIBA Lightning Research Center as a new institutional cooperation to concentrate several instruments such as Lightning Mapping Array - LMA, high speed cameras, high energy detectors, by different scientific parties in a single area for tropical lightning research. © 2018 IEEE.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

First data of the Colombia Lightning Mapping Array - COLMA

The first data set of VHF lightning mapping using a Lightning Mapping Array system - LMA in a tropical region is presented in this paper. Six sensors were installed at the north of Colombia near Santa Marta city. Since the installation of the LMA network in 2015, up to 7000 intra-cloud (IC) discharges from September to November 2015 have been analyzed. The data suggests that, the electrical charge distribution in tropical thunderstorms shows higher vertical development reaching higher altitudesPreprin

Comparison between high-speed video recordings of lightning and the detections of the Catalan Lightning Location Network (XDDE)

Lightning detections of the Catalan Lightning Location Network (XDDE) are compared with high speed video recordings carried out in Spain during summer 2009. At that time the XDDE was composed by four sensors: two SAFIR 3000 type and two LS8000 type. The comparison showed good agreement in the observations at the center and at the south of the network. However, the observations recorded at the north of the network showed a poorer detection efficiency and location accuracy. On the other hand, the fine comparison between frame by frame of video recordings and network detections reveals that the network often detects mostly intra-cloud (IC) sources which probably belong to the preliminary breakdown in downward cloud-to-ground flashes. In some cases few sources are detected during steeped leaders toward to the ground. In the case of our observed IC flashes, the detected sources never corresponded to observations of propagation leaders, if not, small burst of detections were linked to permanent illuminated channels or permanent visible luminosity from the cloud.Postprint (published version

Charge structure of two tropical thunderstorms in Colombia

Charge structure derived from lightning leader development of tropical thunderstorms comprising equatorial latitudes of < ±10° has not been investigated yet. In this work, using a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) installed in northern Colombia, the charge structure, lightning leader initiations and the cloud-to-ground strokes rates of two thunderstorms have been analyzed. Additionally, radar information is also included. The identification of the charge regions has been obtained by analyzing the propagation of lightning leader developments. Flashes initiate between 4 and 15 km altitude. High initiation rates are different in the two storms. In one case the high rates are found between 8 and 13 km. In the other these are found between 10 and 15 km. The storms show typical tripolar structure where the upper positive charge is present at 10 to ~15 km, the mid-level negative charge is found between 6 and 9 km and the lower positive charge between 4 and 6 km altitude. Intracloud lightning flashes with inverted polarity have been identified for short period. In other periods, screening layer flashes have been detected at 14-15 km. The overall results show that the charge structures in the two Colombian storms are similar to the ones reported in North-Central Florida, but with a significant difference being the more than 2 km higher initiation altitude in Colombia. The vertical configuration of the charge regions and the leader development of these thunderstorms might help to explain the occurrence of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes in tropical thunderstormsPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Basic lightning flash properties derived from lightning mapping array data

The size and duration of lightning flashes are examined. Data from the Ebro Valley Laboratory Lightning Mapping Array is used as reference. Additional data from the VLF/LF LINET network is included. In the analysis, each flash is simplified by a confidence ellipse fitting most of the detected sources. The major axis of the ellipse is adopted as the flash length. Flash durations are computed too. The analysis of 778 flashes results in a median flash length of ¿14 km with a median duration of ¿0.3 s. The results presented, besides characterizing the storm activity, they can be useful to define stroke grouping criteria, lightning flash density calculations and lightning warning purposes.Postprint (published version

Potential use of space-based lightning detection in electric power systems

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. We focus on tall objects such as wind turbines and overhead transmission lines. We show how the optical detections allow identifying lightning flashes that likely produce continuing currents. This provides additional information for the identification of dangerous events and also can be used to estimate the number of upward-flashes from tall objects triggered by a nearby flash. The analysis of a transmission line shows the concentration of faults in the areas of high total lightning flash density. We found regional variations of the optical energy of the flashes along the line.This work was supported by research grants ESP2017-86263-C4-2-R funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, by the “European Union”; and Grants PID2019- 109269RB-C42 and ENE2017-91636-EXP funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033. S. Goodman was in part supported by NASA Grant 80NSSC18K1689. M. M. F. Saba was in part supported by research grants 2012/15375–7 and 2013/05784–0, from Sao ˜ Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). S. Visacro was supported by a research grant (307381/2019–6) of the Brazilian National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq). The GLM data are available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and Cloud Service Providers (e.g., Amazon Web Services, AWS). The LIS data are available from the NASA GHRC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) (https:// https://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/home/access-data. The power system information for the 500 kV transmission line is provided by ISA-INTERCOLOMBIA and is supported by L. Porras.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Effects of the topography on the thundercloud electrostatic field measurements

This paper presents thunderstorm electrostatic field measurements carried out by electric field mills located at mountainous regions in Spain and Colombia. The profile of electric field changes ¿E due to lightning vs distance is computed by using data from a lightning location system. The effect of the topography on the ¿E vs distance profile is studied in order to identify necessary adjustments for field mills used as lightning warning systems affects by topographycal factors

Sistema de Monitoreo de Tormentas Eléctricas

This paper describes the development of a thunderstorm and lightning continuous observation system in Bogot&acute;a. The system is conformed by seven electric field mills which transmit real time data to an information processing center. By using genetic algorithm procedures the data are analyzed to obtain lightning location and charge parameters. Furthermore, electric field variations related to the thundercloud electrification process are used to find the city zones with the highest lightning activity risk.El presente articulo describe el desarrollo de un sistema de observaci&oacute;n continua de actividad de tormentas y descargas el&eacute;ctricas atmosf&eacute;ricas para la ciudad de Bogota. El sistema esta conformado por siete molinos de campo el&eacute;ctrico los cuales transmiten los datos en tiempo real hasta un centro de procesamiento y an&aacute;lisis de datos. Mediante procedimientos de algoritmos gen&eacute;ticos los datos son analizados para obtener par&aacute;metros de localizaci&oacute;n y cantidades de carga para cada descarga. Adicionalmente, las variaciones de campo el&eacute;ctrico asociadas con la electrificaci&oacute;n de la nube son utilizadas para obtener las zonas de la ciudad con mayor riesgo de ocurrencia de rayos.&nbsp