Electrical Storms in Brugada Syndrome: Review of Pharmacologic and Ablative Therapeutic Options

Electrical storm occurring in a patient with the Brugada syndrome is an exceptional but malignant and potentially lethal event. Efficient therapeutic solutions should be known and urgently applied because of the inability of usual antiarrhythmic means in preventing multiple recurrences of ventricular arrhythmias. Isoproterenol should be immediately infused while oral quinidine should be further administrated when isoproterenol is not effective. In case of failure of these therapeutic options, ablation of the triggering ventricular ectopies should be attempte

Severe storm electricity

Successful ground truth support of U-2 overflights was been accomplished. Data have been reduced for 4 June 1984 and some of the results have been integrated into some of MSFC's efforts. Staccato lightning (multiply branched, single stroke flash with no continuing current) is prevalent within the rainfree region around the main storm updraft and this is believed to be important, i.e., staccato flashes might be an important indicator of severe storm electrification. Results from data analysis from two stations appear to indicate that charge center heights can be estimated from a combination of intercept data with data from the fixed laboratory at NSSL. An excellent data base has been provided for determining the sight errors and efficiency of NSSL's LLP system. Cloud structures, observable in a low radar reflectivity region and on a scale smaller than is currently resolved by radar, which appear to be related to electrical activity are studied

Determination and representation of electric charge distributions associated with adverse weather conditions

Algorithms are presented for determining the size and location of electric charges which model storm systems and lightning strikes. The analysis utilizes readings from a grid of ground level field mills and geometric constraints on parameters to arrive at a representative set of charges. This set is used to generate three dimensional graphical depictions of the set as well as contour maps of the ground level electrical environment over the grid. The composite, analytic and graphic package is demonstrated and evaluated using controlled input data and archived data from a storm system. The results demonstrate the packages utility as: an operational tool in appraising adverse weather conditions; a research tool in studies of topics such as storm structure, storm dynamics, and lightning; and a tool in designing and evaluating grid systems

Treatment of Electrical Storm with Amiodarone in Brugada Syndrome- an Unexpected Protective Effect

We are reporting on a 53 year old man with proven Brugada syndrome and ICD implantation for resuscitation in context of polymorphic VT. After recurrent arrhythmia he was treated with Amiodarone. This showed to have a protective effect despite various reports suggesting avoiding Amiodarone in Brugada syndrome

Correlated measurements of UHF radar signatures, RF radiation and electric field changes from lightning

During Storm Hazards - 82, simultaneous measurements are made of radar echoes, fast and slow field changes and RF radiation from lightning. Radio frequency radiation and radar echoes are also obtained during periods when the research aircraft is struck by lightning. These data are presently used to better understand the electrical processes which occur during strikes to the aircraft. Preliminary conclusions verify that the events recorded aboard the aircraft occurred during lightning but also indicate that they occur with surprising frequency very early in the flash

Atmospheric electrical modeling in support of the NASA F106 Storm Hazards Project

With the use of composite (non-metallic) and microelectronics becoming more prevalent in the construction of both military and commercial aircraft, the control systems have become more susceptible to damage or failure from electromagnetic transients. One source of such transients is the lightning discharge. In order to study the effects of the lightning discharge on the vital components of an aircraft, NASA Langley Research Center has undertaken a Storm Hazards Program in which a specially instrumented F106B jet aircraft is flown into active thunderstorms with the intention of being struck by lightning. One of the specific purposes of the program is to quantify the environmental conditions which are conductive to aircraft lightning strikes

Fragility Curves for Assessing the Resilience of Electricity Networks Constructed from an Extensive Fault Database

Robust infrastructure networks are vital to ensure community resilience; their failure leads to severe societal disruption and they have important postdisaster functions. However, as these networks consist of interconnected, but geographically-distributed, components, system resilience is difficult to assess. In this paper the authors propose the use of an extension to the catastrophe (CAT) risk modeling approach, which is primarily used to perform risk assessments of independent assets, to be adopted for these interdependent systems. To help to achieve this, fragility curves, a crucial element of CAT models, are developed for overhead electrical lines using an empirical approach to ascribe likely failures due to wind storm hazard. To generate empirical fragility curves for electrical overhead lines, a dataset of over 12,000 electrical failures is coupled to a European reanalysis (ERA) wind storm model, ERA-Interim. The authors consider how the spatial resolution of the electrical fault data affects these curves, generating a fragility curve with low resolution fault data with a R2R2 value of 0.9271 and improving this to a R2R2 value of 0.9889 using higher spatial resolution data. Recommendations for deriving similar fragility curves for other infrastructure systems and/or hazards using the same methodological approach are also made. The authors argue that the developed fragility curves are applicable to other regions with similar electrical infrastructure and wind speeds, although some additional calibration may be required

Atmospheric electricity/meteorology analysis

This activity focuses on Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS)/Lightning Mapper Sensor (LMS) algorithm development and applied research. Specifically we are exploring the relationships between (1) global and regional lightning activity and rainfall, and (2) storm electrical development, physics, and the role of the environment. U.S. composite radar-rainfall maps and ground strike lightning maps are used to understand lightning-rainfall relationships at the regional scale. These observations are then compared to SSM/I brightness temperatures to simulate LIS/TRMM multi-sensor algorithm data sets. These data sets are supplied to the WETNET project archive. WSR88-D (NEXRAD) data are also used as it becomes available. The results of this study allow us to examine the information content from lightning imaging sensors in low-earth and geostationary orbits. Analysis of tropical and U.S. data sets continues. A neural network/sensor fusion algorithm is being refined for objectively associating lightning and rainfall with their parent storm systems. Total lightning data from interferometers are being used in conjunction with data from the national lightning network. A 6-year lightning/rainfall climatology has been assembled for LIS sampling studies

Analysis of the first gigantic jet recorded over continental North America

[1] Two low-light cameras near Marfa, Texas, recorded a gigantic jet over northern Mexico on 13 May 2005 at approximately 0423:50 UTC. Assuming that the farthest of two candidate storm systems was its source, the bright lower channel ended in a fork at around 50–59 km height with the very dim upper branches extended to 69–80 km altitude. During the time window containing the jet, extremely low frequency magnetic field recordings show that there was no fast charge moment change larger than 50 coulomb times kilometers (C km) but there was a larger and slower charge moment change of 520 C km over 70 ms. The likely parent thunderstorm was a high-precipitation supercell cluster containing a persistent mesocyclone, with radar echo tops of at least 17 km. However, photogrammetric analysis suggests that the gigantic jet occurred over the forward flank downdraft region with echo tops of 14 km. This part of the supercell may have had an inverted-polarity charge configuration as evidenced by positive cloud-to-ground lightning flashes (+CG) dominating over negative flashes (-CG), while -CGs occurred under the downwind anvil. Four minutes before the gigantic jet, -CG activity practically ceased in this area, while +CG rates increased, culminating during the 20 s leading up to the gigantic jet with four National Lightning Detection Network–detected +CGs. A relative lull in lightning activity of both polarities was observed for up to 1.5 min after the gigantic jet. The maturing storm subsequently produced 30 sprites between 0454 and 0820 UTC, some associated with extremely large impulse charge moment change values.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version