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Year [UT] |
[UT] |
[UT] |
Vol |
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[SA/FA] |
~21:30-21:50 UT: lightning within 10 km of Langmuir Lab (LL)
~22:55-23:40 UT: lightning within 10 km of LL |
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[SA/FA] |
~17:18-? UT: lightning within 10 km of LL
18:00:18 UT: NLDN shows 4 flashes at 7-8 km range. Possibly 4 stepped leaders from same flash? ~18:06-19:18 UT: lightning within 10 km of Lemitar (storm is to NW) |
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[SA/FA] |
Data beyond 22:07 UT was lost (hard drive failure) |
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(anymore) |
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[SA/FA] |
Data was lost due to a hard drive failure. |
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[SA/FA] |
System was armed remotely |
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[SA/FA] |
System was armed remotely |
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20:37-20:56 22:21-23:19 |
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[SA/FA] |
System was armed remotely |
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[SA/FA] |
~17:15-17:29 UT: Lightning within 10 km of Langmuir Lab (LL) |
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[SA/FA] |
~19:36-20:07 UT: Lightning within 10 km of LL
System was armed late (unaware of storm over LL until too late) Several balloon launches were conducted directly into the storms (may be best NSSL data of the summer) |
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[SA/FA] |
~21:46-22:07 UT: NLDN indicates CGs within 10 km of LL |
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[SA/FA] |
First thunder? heard at 23:44 UT
~23:44- : lightning within 10 km of Lemitar |
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17:45-21:00 |
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[SA/FA] |
~18:00 UT: Storm developing N of LL and moving northward |
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[SA/FA] |
At least 2 balloon launches were made ~21 UT
~20:53- UT: Infrequent loud thunder heard from close (overhead) storm. Power failure at 21:28 UT ended the data acquisition session prematurely. ~21:4? UT: Tree at NE corner of house was struck by lightning. Slow antenna (only ~15 meters from strike point!) was knocked out of commission for a day and was not fully functional until Day 217 (some gain settings were inaccessible). |
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22:13- |
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[SA/FA] |
System was armed late for 2nd time interval (host computer was down
when lightning began). First CG of the day within 10 km of LL was
at 22:00:01 UT.
~23 UT: Thunderstorm overhead at Lemitar. Gains 2 & 3 were unavailable, so Gain 1 (very insensitive) was used much of the time (Gain 4 for the rest) that the storm was overhead. |
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21:55- |
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[SA/FA] |
A close storm from late yesterday continues to produce lightning and eventually begins to decay. A +220 LLP CG was produced at 00:47:03 UT toward the end of the storm's lifetime. Unusually loud rolling thunder was heard from the flash 15 seconds later (5 km to closest channels). |
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17:38-20:39 21:00- |
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[SA/FA] |
~18:24-?: Lightning within 10 km of LL
18:50:43 UT: +40 LLP "CG" 2.3 km N of LL 19:03:59 UT: -920 LLP CG 7 km NNW of LL ~21 UT: Storm with 15 km height observed by Socorro Radar just East of Rio Grande within 1st trip echo. There were a total of 5 balloon flights from LL (all after 21 UT?). Post analysis of Edot data by LANL revealed the presence of an energetic +BP at 21:06:20.925 UT within the 15 km tall storm. Analysis of joint slow/fast antenna data showed that the +BP was delayed by at least 30 ms from the start of the flash as indicated by the onset of the slow delta-E. |
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17:36- |
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[SA/FA] |
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20:27- |
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[SA/FA] |
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21:00- |
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[SA/FA] |
18 UT: The gain adjustment on the slow antenna
now functions properly (74145 chip was replaced after being damaged by
close lightning strike 1 week ago)
~23:34 UT: Storm less than 10 km to South. Storm passed almost overhead around the change of UT day. |
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21:45- |
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[SA/FA] |
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18:41- |
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[SA/FA] |
~20 UT: Vertically compact storm forming over the laboratory. Multiple
balloon launches.
20:47:01 UT: Tipsey trigger. |
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17:01- |
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22:47 UT: 63 MHz log-RF is finally operational
and being sampled. Configuration: Normal voltage divider, 50-75 OHM
RESISTIVE converter at antenna, and using UNCUT LONG WHIP on antenna.
>23 UT: Storm within 10 km of Lemitar |
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5:26-8:20 19:04- |
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Nighttime thunderstorms near or within LMA network. Some energetic
+CGs were associated with some of these storms (EOSO??). Missed 110
minutes of data (3:36-5:26 UT) in part due to disk filling up.
19:04 UT: Voltage divider no longer used in log-RF circuit (now straight through). It will remain this way until a later change... ~21 UT: Socorro radar mapped storm in 2nd trip with good depolarization data. Storm was to E of radar. |
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5:27-5:40 13:56-16:10 21:26- |
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5:27-5:40 UT: FORTE overpass. Max EL: 59 deg., WSW. Some
lightning within region, but not within LMA network?
~14 UT: A couple of morning thunderstorms passed overhead. Storms appeared to be moving quickly out of the SSW towards the NNE. 14:48-15:07 UT: Several horizontally extensive "propagating +CG flashes" within the LMA (+320 LLP at 14:48:53 struck only 4 km south of LL). These might have produced sprites (had they occurred at night). ~15:30 UT: Air space for LL opened - last balloon launch of 1999? Socorro radar broke down during the morning hours. No more data for 1999? |
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15:30-22:31 22:55- |
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0:04-0:26 UT: CGs within 10 km of LL (according to NLDN)
0:39-0:49 UT: TRMM overpass. Max EL: 86 deg. Some lightning activity within the LMA during the overpass, though activity was on the decline. >17 UT: Lightning within 10 km of Lemitar. Big anvil discharges were occurring during the decaying phase of a storm to the south in the late afternoon. |
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Storm activity has ceased. |
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>16 UT: One storm was at or within the reversal distance during
the morning hours. Remaining storms were beyond and all may have
been outside the LMA.
>22 UT: Some particularly active storms formed just E of the Rio Grande and Escondida (to SE). Overall flash rate was every 4 secs at most active stage. |
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1:15-6:40 16:13-18:52 20:48- |
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System was armed at night in case of a balloon launch from Ottumwa,
IA by Gar Bering et al. Was informed later that a balloon launch
did occur, though digital telemetry was lost (audio was OK though).
The system was also armed at night so as to capture +CG waveforms from <200 km range. Low light level video (mostly out of focus) was also acquired, but only one energetic +CG was captured on video (a +1040 LLP; all others were missed). 17:11:33 UT: A possibly horizontally extensive "propagating -CG flash" within the LMA was accompanied by somewhat loud thunder. There was no slow antenna activity noted before or after this event (within 1/2 hour). One of the -CGs struck about 8 km W of LL, while others were >25 km to the NE of the lab. There was no other CG activity within 100 km of LL in either the preceeding or following 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the slow antenna went way off scale (estimate -4.5 V min) during the event. Fast antenna data should still be OK. >17 UT: Storm formed overhead and produced some moderately close lightning (mostly IC activity, though?) |
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5:11-6:00 18:54-23:12 |
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5:42:35 UT: +420 LLP 30 km WNW of LL produced a nice static field change
here at Lemitar (in spite of >60 km distance)
No lightning was within 60 km range, so almost all static field changes were small (with the exception of the one noted above). |
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Close nighttime storms formed over the Rio Grande Valley. Good static field data for these storms. Flash rate was unimpressive: approx. 1 every 2 minutes. |
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19:06-21:43 |
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Distant sferics from a large sprite-producing MCC over Nebraska were recorded from before dusk until well past midnight. At one point, the +CG flash rate of >140 LLP strengths was very high: about 20 per minute! The FMA Research log states that salmon-colored sprites were visible to the naked eye. Gar Bering attempted a balloon flight, but aborted due to a payload failure after balloon deployment. |
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19:45-22:25 22:37- |
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>4 UT: Nighttime storms formed over the Rio Grande Valley and some
of these storms passed nearly overhead (>7 UT). A moderate flash
rate of 1-per-30secs was not uncommon for this small storm cluster.
>22 UT: Active late afternoon storms produced lightning within 20 km of LL to the W and NW. One NLDN -CG came within 1 km of LL (Annex) at 23:40:59 (it was the only one within 10 km of LL all day). 23:55:14 UT: +BP with saturated log-RF (bright). Post analysis shows significant IC static delta-E of 2 V/m at G7, but signal to noise ratio is not good enough to discern any prior static field change. |
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19:16-20:03 22:14-23:59 |
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Some storms formed within the LMA, particularly during the late afternoon
hours. Good slow antenna data for these storms. The flash rate
was moderate at 1-per-25secs.
There was both a high elevation FORTE and TRMM overpass (at separate times), but flash rate was low or non-existent near or within the LMA for both overpasses. ~19 UT: Changed whip on antenna (shortened it to same length as other LMA antennas) and replaced the resistive 50-75 ohm converter at the antenna with a "normal" 50-75 ohm converter. ~22 UT: The resistor on channel 1 (log RF) of the A/D board was changed so that the new voltage range is about +/- 0.5 V (about half of previous). The normal voltage divider was placed back into the circuit. Configuration should now match that of the LMA digitizer in terms of voltage/dBm. |
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19:20-23:40 |
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2:31-:47 UT: Overhead FORTE overpass while there were storms
within the region, but little or no activity within the LMA. LMA
data is probably good regardless and good electric field data was acquired
for the flashes.
There was some lightning activity within the LMA network during the afternoon, though the storms were short lived. Hurricane Bret (category 4 at its peak) made landfall during the evening hours (CT). Distant sferics were presumably recorded from this system. |
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There was some lightning activity within the LMA during the afternoon (but not much). |
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There were some overhead storms during the early evening hours.
Good slow antenna data was acquired for these close discharges.
The close storms produced some horizontally extensive spider lightning discharges and +CGs during the late phase of the storm system. Some of these +CGs might have been sprite-producers. |
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There were some storms within the LMA during both the early and late
afternoon. Slow antenna field changes were visible every 8 seconds
at one point for the late afternoon storms.
A few of the late afternoon storms were within 10 km of Lemitar (closest CGs were about 4 km away). |
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19:36-20:28 |
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1:04-1:16 UT: Five +CGs struck at various times at distances of 15-23
km to the WSW-W of LL from (presumably) a decaying storm region.
There was 1 or 2 storms which formed to the NW of LL just ouside? the LMA, but much of this activity during the early afternoon was missed (and was unimpressive anyways). |
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20:27- |
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There was a little activity within the LMA both during the late morning
and the late afternoon hours.
A very active line of storms formed to the ENE during the late afternoon. At one point, static field changes were as frequent as 1-per-3secs! Weak LLP +CGs were produced by these storms, but were infrequent. There was a moderatly close storm(s) which formed while the more distant very active storms were being recorded. The slow antenna was left in an over-sensitized state for much of this time period for the closer activity so that the more distant stomrs could be optimally recorded (and also so that a possible "invisible" initial leader from the closer storm(s) could be better detected). |
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6:18-7:46 18:34- |
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Some storms formed both nearby and overhead at Lemitar around
local midnight and also formed elsewhere within the LMA around that time.
The first lightning from the "overhead" storm may have been a CG which
struck within 2 km range at 6:17:04 UT (the loud thunder from which prompted
me to arm my system!)
The lightning activity during the afternoon was outside the LMA, but data was acquired anyways. The late afternoon activity was primarily to the East. Interstingly, the first CG from these storms struck a considerable distance away from the others according to the NLDN and visually it appears that the discharge might have first propagated into a smaller cumulus congestus before striking the ground (see digital picture acquired approx. 10 mins later). |
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18:13-20:18 22:46-23:35 |
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There was probably some remnant IC activity from a storm left over
from the previous UT day. The storm was situated near or beyond the
eastern edge of the LMA. One IC produced a +180 LLP only 18 km
to the south, well away from any preceeding NLDN-indicated activity.
There was very little activity near or within the LMA for the rest of the day, though one storm formed only 10 km (or less) to the ENE during the late afternoon. This and a subsequent? storm to the ENE were short-lived and had a low flash rate. |
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There was some moderately close lightning associated with a fast-moving storm during the early afternoon. However, high winds and rain put considerable noise on the slow antenna. The lightning flash rate was also low (<1-per-minute). |
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100-105 |
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17 UT: Master A/D Board was rejumpered for 1
microsecond sampling and sferic A/D board was rejumpered for 1 microsecond
averaging.
There was some lightning activity within the LMA, but none of it was particularly close to the Lemitar station. Satellite imagery showed that the storms were strongly sheared due to high winds aloft. 20:44:14 UT: A +200 LLP appeared within a region of -CGs. +BP? This event was near the periphery of the LMA network and should have been within range for slow antenna static delta-E measurements. +CGs were occurring to the south of LL at > 30 km range, possibly in a stratiform region (guessing from visual observations, but not certain) near the end of the day and into the next... |
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19:33-23:38 |
105-108 |
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Some active fast-moving storms passed to the north at close range both in the early and late afternoon. A portion of the 1st storms' approach was missed since I was away from home during the late morning and noon hours. The fast movement of the storms made it difficult to keep the proper gain setting, which resulted in under- and especially over-sensitivity at times. |
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109-110 |
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There was one storm within the LMA during the early afternoon hours.
The storm was centered approx. 13 km N of LL. Unfortunately, the
first discharge(s) from this storm were missed.
The remaining activity was outside the LMA and produced at best weak and infrequent static field changes. |
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There was some lightning activity within the LMA during the mid-afternoon. The flash rate was moderate at best. |
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112-113 |
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All lightning was outside the LMA (according to NLDN) and was no closer than 32 km from the slow antenna. |
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September 12 |
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A storm formed within the LMA shortly after midnight and produces a few CGs (1/3-1/2 of which were +CGs, during the decaying phase). Unfortunately, the initial lightning activity was missed. |
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114-117 |
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A very active region of storms passed over Langmuir Laboratory during
the afternoon. A flash rate as high as 1-every-4secs was
observed while it was still within the LMA. However, most
of the static field changes were small due in part to the range (>30 km)
from the sensor.
A +410 LLP +CG struck within about 1 km of S. Baldy prior to the passage of the active storms. It was the 2nd of 2 +CGs within the same general region. The point of origin of the +leaders is not clear from the NLDN data (was it an anvil, decaying storm, etc..?) |
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September 14 |
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118-120 |
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A line of thunderstorms passed overhead during the afternoon (though most of the line was to the north). A flash rate as high as 1-every-5secs was observed about 45 minutes before they passed overhead while the storms were within the LMA . |
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September 15 |
23:08- |
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There was no activity within 90 km range during the first observation
period.
Slow/fast antenna calibration was performed late today (continuing into tomorrow UT day). Lightning during the calibration interval was >150 km away according to the NLDN, but the lightning was in several different directions (good for azimuthal dependency check). |
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September 16 |
22:10- |
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A small but potent line of storms passed through the LMA during the late afternoon, moving in an ESE direction. When the storms passed over Socorro (N. part?), it was producing lightning (mostly ICs) every 5 seconds, all of which were within the reversal distance. |
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September 17 |
4:52-5:58 |
122-124 |
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At the start of the UT day, the compact "line" of storms which
had passed through Socorro starts to move beyond the reversal distance
while the flash rate appears to slow. As it moved further away, the
flash rate picked up again and reached a maximum of 1-every-3secs
(50 sec avg.) according to the slow antenna!
Later during the evening, another cluster of storms passed through Socorro county, but were south of the LMA. Small static field changes were recorded form the storms at >= 50 km range, though infrequent larger field changes were seen (presumably from lightning channels propagating NNE through the anvils). |
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September 18 |
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There were several storms within 10 km of LL during the mid- and late-afternoon hours. The initial lightning sequence was captured for these storms. The lightning flash rate was moderate at about 1-every-20secs. | |
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September 19 |
21:32-23:23 |
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A storm at the start of the UT day continues to produce lightning
within the LMA with some <10 km from LL, but the storm
is moving away from LL. The flash rate was still moderate at up to
1-every-15secs.
During the late afternoon, a fast-moving storm came as close as about 15 km to the north and dissipated. A moderate flash rate of up to 1-every-12secs was observed prior to dissipation. The storm never came within the LMA, but was not far from the periphery. 22:21:41 UT: The final flash from the storm (according to the NLDN) may have produced both a +CG and a -CG. A +140 LLP, 14 km to the north, was followed in the next second by a -60 LLP, 12 km to the north (real +CG? -CG tower trigger?...) |
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September 23 |
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A small line of storms passed overhead during the late afternoon. The storms were accompanied by heavy rain and an unusually strong gust front. The gust front stirred up so much dust that the visibility dropped to under 1/4 mile at one point. The slow antenna fluctuated wildly due to the airborn dust and this nearly rendered it useless for several minutes. Surprisingly, the lightning flash rate was unimpressive (typically about 1-every-30secs) for this strong line of storms. | |
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September 24 | -0:25 |
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This web page was last modified on September 24, 1999
by Mark Stanley