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World Wide Lightning Location Network

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Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#21

Post by sunshinesnacks »

brunohaid wrote: post #12
Catbert59 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raw logs, history access and APIs to weather data are usually $$$. Like at the ECMWF: you can have a look at all beautiful charts for free. But if you want to have the data behind them they want to see big cash.

Thanks a ton! Was afraid that that's the answer - and that there's no reasonably priced aggregator/abstraction layer, eg like https://open-meteo.com for ECMWF.

Open-meteo does have ECMWF data and forecasts. Free for non-commercial use. I think the person behind open-meteo is on HN.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#22

Post by open-meteo »

sunshinesnacks wrote: post #21
brunohaid wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks a ton! Was afraid that that's the answer - and that there's no reasonably priced aggregator/abstraction layer, eg like https://open-meteo.com for ECMWF.

Open-meteo does have ECMWF data and forecasts. Free for non-commercial use. I think the person behind open-meteo is on HN.

You rang ;-) I’m in the middle of adding more ECMWF data that will be released as open data starting October 1st. At the moment, only a limited set of lower-resolution (0.25°) ECMWF forecasts can be shared open-data. That’s going to change in a big way, though I can’t share more details just yet.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#23

Post by CheeseFromLidl »

Catbert59 wrote: post #17
CheeseFromLidl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can look at lightning in an SDR receiver, they look like horizontally oriented stretched droplets. Somewhere around 7kHz iirc.

I tried to detect lightning with a Bosch Sensortec COTS magnetometer - but failed. Was a fun experiment: https://www.dm5tt.de/2025/07/26/thunderstorm-detector-with-m...

I’d like to ask to repeat this experiment but with a ferrite core next to the sensor (touching it). On the low spectrum (below a few MHz?) the magnetic component in the electromagnetic wave becomes dominant. Which is why receivers in shortwave radio and in e.g. DCF77 use a ferrite antenna. The ferrite’s length should be perpendicular to the line formed by the sensor and the location of the storm.

Edit: you’re reading at 400 Hz so you’ll read phenomena below 200 Hz

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#24

Post by Catbert59 »

CheeseFromLidl wrote: post #23
Catbert59 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to detect lightning with a Bosch Sensortec COTS magnetometer - but failed. Was a fun experiment: https://www.dm5tt.de/2025/07/26/thunderstorm-detector-with-m...

I’d like to ask to repeat this experiment but with a ferrite core next to the sensor (touching it). On the low spectrum (below a few MHz?) the magnetic component in the electromagnetic wave becomes dominant. Which is why receivers in shortwave radio and in e.g. DCF77 use a ferrite antenna. The ferrite’s length should be perpendicular to the line formed by the sensor and the location of the storm. Edit: you’re reading…

Will do. The experiment isn't yet dismantled.

Going to write the ferrite core on my next shopping list.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#25

Post by sunshinesnacks »

open-meteo wrote: post #22
sunshinesnacks wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open-meteo does have ECMWF data and forecasts. Free for non-commercial use. I think the person behind open-meteo is on HN.

You rang ;-) I’m in the middle of adding more ECMWF data that will be released as open data starting October 1st. At the moment, only a limited set of lower-resolution (0.25°) ECMWF forecasts can be shared open-data. That’s going to change in a big way, though I can’t share more details just yet.

Hey! That’s exciting! Open-meteo is great.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#26

Post by aceazzameen »

Angostura wrote: post #7

See also the excellent https://www.lightningmaps.org , an additional service of the excellent Blitzortung.or crowdsource project

My kids love looking at that site whenever we have a thunderstorm. They like seeing a strike on the map, then watching the realtime animated shockwave arrive over our location at the same time the sound of thunder arrives.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#27

Post by designerarvid »

[0]"The sensors are basically a bearing antenna with a very accurate clock and a computer. A lightning discharge has a "signature" that allows the sensor's software to distinguish lightning discharges from all the other electrical noise in the world."

[0] - https://hjelp.yr.no/hc/en-us/articles/9260735234076-Lightnin...

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#28

Post by joezydeco »

Catbert59 wrote: post #6

There's also Blitzortung.org which is a very interesting project. They are receiving Sferics on the lower HF frequencies and tag them with GPS timestamps (with the PPS signal they are in the Nanoseconds precision range). A central server will then do the triangulation. All with off-the-shelf hardware (STM32, etc.). Their service is stable for many many years now. (Offtopic: The STM32H7 ADC is great for many many thin…

Blitzortung is a little long in the tooth. Great tech, but the mapping doesn't let you get any detail. Lightningmaps.org scrapes the feed but will sometimes just completely stop functioning and never come back.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#29

Post by ianburrell »

perihelions wrote: post #16
woadwarrior01 wrote: post #14

I wonder if this can be used for navigation? At the very least, for sanity checking GPS data.

20th-century navigation used to operate like that, except using artificial radio sources—fixed beacons. I guess you could answer a lot of technical questions by looking at OMEGA, which, similar to lightning-generated RF, used the VLF range (3–30 kHz), and had global range bouncing off the ionosphere, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_navigation ( "Hyperbolic navigation" ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_(n…

There is eLoran which is upgrade to LORAN-C and as accurate as GPS. I saw link here that China is deploying eLoran system. The range is only 1200 mi so it won't cover the middle of the oceans, but would provide backup to GPS.

Re: World Wide Lightning Location Network

#30

Post by yonatan8070 »

Catbert59 wrote: post #6

There's also Blitzortung.org which is a very interesting project. They are receiving Sferics on the lower HF frequencies and tag them with GPS timestamps (with the PPS signal they are in the Nanoseconds precision range). A central server will then do the triangulation. All with off-the-shelf hardware (STM32, etc.). Their service is stable for many many years now. (Offtopic: The STM32H7 ADC is great for many many thin…

> The STM32H7 ADC is great for many many things

Is it any different from the ADC on other MCUs?

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