Lightning research update including new uses of lighting data

The 1989 implementation of a National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) was a joint effort of the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the Bureau of Land Management, the State University of New York at Albany and EPRI. That event followed about five years of research and development activities which paved the way for such a network to be feasible. Further, this network offered the possibility of a depth of understanding of lightning phenomena which was previously only dreamed about. The National Lightning Detection Network has been commercialized-it is no longer a research project, it is a business. And, as we head toward the network´s tenth anniversary, a glimpse of the data obtained and some of the uses to which the data is being applied is provided. When NLDN started operations, location accuracy of flashes was advertised as one kilometer and the location technology in use tracked lightning flashes (a lightning flash could have one or more subsequent strokes). Today, using advanced sensor technology, detection accuracy is on the order of one hundred meters and the unit of lightning location (and other data) is the stroke. In fact, using a Fault And Lightning Location System (FALLS^TM) Workstation, location accuracy and other characteristics of individual strokes can be determined for both macro and micro geographic locations. For the utility engineer, the equipment manufacturer and the scientist, a whole new level of insight into lightning is available. The use of this data in several research venues is highlighted. Further, two novel uses of this data by electric utilities is also presented.