Lightning Research

Among the duty to operate the Austrian Lightning Detection System lightning research is of fundamental interest to our group. We have to note that many details of the physical processes during a thunderstorm and especially during a lightning discharge have yet been unsolved. This may explain the existence of numerous common lares in conjunction with lightning, which are more based on guesses than on knowledge.

The main objectives of ALDIS in lightning research are

• performance evaluation of the lightning location system in terms of Detection Efficiency, Location Accuracy and Peak Current Estimate
• basic lightning physics - analyses of directly measured currents at the instrumented radio tower on Gaisberg provide an insight into the processes during a lightning strike to the tower
• effect of lightning strikes to technical infrastructure - lightning causes valuable damage to buildings and electronic systems