Beijing Lightning NETwork (BLNET): Configuration and Preliminary Results of Lightning Location

The Beijing Lightning NETwork (BLNET) consisting of ten stations has recently been developed, with each station composed of a fast antenna, a slow antenna and a lightning VHF (Very High Frequency) radiation detection system, forming a lightning network with capability formulti-band integrated lightning observation, including VLF, LF, HF, and VHF frequency bands.In this paper, a detailed configuration of the infrastructure of BLNET is described, and atheoretical analysis of lightning location error using the Monte Carlo methodis presented. The simulation resultsshowed that the 2-D location error was less than 200 m within the network and 3 kmat the range of 100 km outside the network. Finally, using a combined method incorporating Chan and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithms, we located all the cloud-to-ground lightning and intra-cloud lightning that accompaniedthe thunderstorm which passed over the network on July 7, 2013. A comparison of the location results with the corresponding radar data showed good agreement, validating a high performance of the BLNET and the proposed location algorithm.