ALOFT Ground Support
Lightning emits lots of radiation in radio bands at different frequencies that can travel to large distances from the source and be detected by dedicated radio receivers placed on ground. Depending on the frequency, ground observations give additional information about the lightning, including the spatiotemporal evolution of the discharge and the amount of charge transferred. For this reason the ALOFT flight campaign is complemented by a wide network of ground-based radio sensors operated by a large international collaboration.
Philip Bitzer, University of Alabama, Huntsville, USA
Panama Marx Meter Array (PAMMA)
Bandwidth: 0.5Hz - 500kHz (1 MHz), 5kHz - 5MHz (10 MHz)
Location: Gamboa, Panama (9.11 N, -79.69 E)
Morris Cohen, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
LF sensors
Locations:
Arecibo, Puerto Rico (18.34 N, -66.75 E)
Briarwood, Georgia, USA (33.43 N, -82.58 E)
Lost Pines, Texas, USA (30.09 N, -97.17 E)
Oxford, Mississippi, USA (34.43 N, -89.39 E)
Martin Fullekrug, University of Bath, UK
Paul Krehbiel / Mark A. Stanley, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, USA
VHF interferometer with fast antenna (FA)
Bandwidth: 1-160MHz (400 MHz), (FA: 1kHz - 30MHz)
Location: Florida, USA
University of Central Florida Lightning Mapping Array (UCF LMA)
Location: Florida, USA
Steven A. Cummer, Duke University, USA
LF sensors
Locations:
Florida, USA (28.06 N, -80.62 E)
Arecibo, Puerto Rico (18.35 N, -66.75 E)
VHF interferometer
Florida, USA (25.47, -80.54)
Marni Pazos, Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, UNAM, Mexico &
Steven Cummer, Duke University, USA
LF sensor
Location: Sisal, Mexico (21.16 N, -90.05 E)
Joan Montanya, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain &
Camilo Younes Velosa, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia
eLMA campaign Lightning Mapping Array station, High energy instrument, LF magnetic field, VHF interferometer
Location: San Andres, Colombia (13.36 N, -81.37 E)
Supported by: MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and EU Next Generation, contract: EQC2021-007603-P
