The Lightning Position and Tracking System (LPATS) in Israel: first results

The Lightning Position and Tracking System (LPATS) installed in Israel is the first large-area lightning detection system in the Middle East. LAPTS uses a time-of-arrival technique for locating cloud-to-ground lightning strokes. The precise time that lightning touches the ground is monitored to microsecond accuracy at several receives sites simultaneously. This allows one to determine the accurate stroke location. The LPATS network consists of four major components: antennas, receivers, central analyzer and graphic map display terminals. The paper includes first lightning data received by the system handling for the last thunderstorm period.