Sound Source Localization of Lightning Discharges

The lightning channel can be retraced by thunder signature recorded with an array of microphones. Four microphones were arranged to capture thunder sound, and acoustic cross-correlation of captured pressure signals estimated the time lag of each pair of microphones. A wave segment with 0.25 s or 0.5 s of duration was compared with the acoustic signal recorded by other microphones to estimate time lapse. The direction of channel propagation has been estimated by the time difference of arrival of each pair of microphones. Thunder source locations estimated by this method can be extended to investigate the channel propagation inside clouds.