Simultaneous measurement of lightning parameters for strokes to the Toronto Canadian National Tower

Abstract

Successful simultaneous measurements of significant parameters for lightning strikes to the Canadian National (CN) Tower in Toronto have been performed since the summer of 1991. Three 10‐bit 10‐ns computer‐controlled double‐channel digitizers, with long segmented memory, have simultaneously captured the current derivative at the CN Tower and the corresponding electric and magnetic fields 2.0 km north of the tower. Lightning flashes to the tower were videotaped from two mutually perpendicular directions for the purpose of constructing a three‐dimensional image of the lightning path. Furthermore, the return stroke velocity, a parameter also needed for the analysis of lightning radiation models, has been measured by a computer‐controlled photodiode system. In this paper all relevant parameters for a CN Tower lightning stroke, observed on August 17, 1991, are shown and analyzed.

Frequency Domain Approach to De-Noise the CN Tower Lightning Current Derivative Signal and Its Parameters Calculations

“…Successful simultaneous measurements of significant parameters of CN Tower lightning strikes have been performed since the summer of 1991 [2]. By the beginning of the summer of 1991, five measurement stations were operating to simultaneously measure seven of the most important lightning parameters [2].…”

“…For example, during the summer of 1991, the CN Tower was hit with 74 flashes, 24 of which occurred within 100 minutes in the early morning of July 7. Therefore, the CN Tower presents one of the best sites in the world to study the lightning phenomenon [2,3]. Lightning strikes to the CN Tower have been monitored since 1978, two years after its erection [3].…”

About the direction of motion, polarity and multiplicity of lightning flashes hitting towers: a comparative analysis of data gathered in Brazil and Switzerland

“…In the following decades, other similar towers were erected in Italy (Garbagnati and Lo Piparo, 1970), South Africa (Eriksson, 1979), Brazil (Trignelli et al, 1995), Japan (Goto and Narita, 1994), Germany (Beierl, 1992), and Canada (Hussein et al, 1995).…”

CN Tower Lightning Current Derivative Heidler Model Analysis and Transmission

“…Since the beginning of the summer of 1991, several measurement stations have been operational to simultaneously capture the lightning current derivative at the CN Tower, the lightninggenerated electric and magnetic fields, the flash trajectory images viewed from two orthogonal directions, and the return-stroke velocity [2][3][4].…”