Triggered lightning testing of an airport runway lighting system

The interaction of rocket-triggered lightning with an airport runway lighting system has been studied. The lighting system included a buried counterpoise with attached vertical ground rods for protection of the series lighting cable from lightning. Experimental data for voltages and currents at various locations in the runway lighting system due to direct lightning strikes are presented along with the causative lightning current. The data include the first measurements of the responses of an underground bare conductor (counterpoise) to direct lightning strikes. These measurements can serve as ground truth for the testing of the validity of various counterpoise models.