The Advantages of the Atmospheric Electric Field Meter in Thunderstorm Monitoring

Firstly, let's understand the formation process of a thunderstorm cloud. Thunderstorms in nature are usually multicell thunderstorms. For the convenience of illustration, a single-cell thunderstorm is taken as an example. Its formation can be divided into four stages: cumulus, growth, maturity, and dissipation, with each stage lasting approximately 8 - 15 minutes. In the initial cumulus stage, the charge separation and electrification occur inside the cloud, and the charges are distributed in different regions within the cloud, thus generating an electrostatic field that can be measured on the ground. This is the first detectable phenomenon before the occurrence of a thunderstorm.

And this is where the detection technical advantage of the atmospheric electric field meter lies. It can detect the electric field signal from the initial cumulus stage of the thundercloud formation and issue an early warning in advance. Its detection range completely covers the entire life cycle of the thundercloud from formation to occurrence, highly matching the development characteristics of thunderstorms.

In contrast, for other lightning detection technologies, magnetic field detection technology is mostly used to detect long-range lightning over 600 km; radio frequency detection technology is commonly seen in the high-precision positioning of medium-range lightning within 100 - 300 km; optical detection technology realizes lightning detection by detecting the intense light pulses emitted by lightning in thunderstorm clouds and is often installed on satellites for global lightning positioning. These technologies are mainly applied to the subsequent stages such as the growth and maturity of thunderstorm clouds, lacking the detection ability in the initial stage of thunderstorm formation, resulting in limited warning time and being difficult to meet the actual needs.

In addition, the atmospheric electric field meter also has special advantages. In the lightning warning system, the warning system based on the detection of the atmospheric electric field meter is more suitable for short-term and near-warning for specific targets to be protected in the construction of civil facilities such as meteorology, petrochemical, power grid, aerospace and defense, airports, and tourist attractions, and its application range is wider.

To sum up, whether from the perspective of the matching degree with the development characteristics of thunderstorms or from meeting the actual application needs of civil facility construction, the atmospheric electric field meter has an irreplaceable position in the lightning warning system, and it is natural to use the atmospheric electric field meter as the electric field detection device.