Ligthning strikes from Met Éireann#
The ATDnet Lightning Detection System is optimised for detecting cloud-to-ground lightning strokes and flashes rather than cloud lightning (inter-cloud and intra-cloud lightning). The majority of lightning occurs in the storm cloud itself or between clouds. On average approximately 10 to 20 percent of all lightning over Ireland are cloud-to-ground strikes.
Lightning locations are sourced from the WMO SFERIC (SFUK) messages. Some atmospherics may not be detected. Isolated spurious returns can also occur. Detection efficiency is variable, ATDnet is capable of detecting in excess of 90% of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes over Ireland. Typical location accuracy is estimated to be around 1-3km, or less.
Met Éireann grateful to the UK Met Office for the use of their Arrival Time Difference (ATD) lightning location data.
More information on Lightning can be found here.
Further information about lightning detection at Valentia Observatory is available here.
In the platform two visualisation modes are possible:
Real-time (moving window)#
In this mode, the lightning strikes can be visualised following a moving window schema of 5 min, following Met Éireann’s radar.
In each of the 5-min intervals, the lightning strikes detected in that interval and the 30 minutes before are displayed using a cross with a different colour based on how recent it is to that interval:
This visualisation is used in the following products:
Rainfall accumulation 5 min (Met Éireann Radar)
Rainfall accumulation 30 min (Met Éireann Radar)
Visualization#
Daily intervals#
In this mode, all lightning strikes detected during each natural day are displayed. The style used in this mode also uses the cross symbol, but with a colour palette based on the hour when the lightning was detected:
This visualisation is used in the following products:
Daily rainfall accumulation (Met Éireann Radar)
Visualization#
