ULAT: Deployment of Dense and Nationwide Lightning Detection Network for Weather Forecasting in the Philippines

The Philippines is exposed to a variety of natural hazards annually. With this, the government is continuously investing in research projects that will help supplement the current weather monitoring techniques of the country. For years, lightning occurrences have been known to have a significant correlation with weather disturbances. Thus, it can be explored for developing more enhanced weather forecasting systems, especially for disaster risk response efforts. The development and deployment of the Philippines’ Dense and Nationwide Lightning Detection Network under the Understanding Lightning and Thunderstorms (ULAT) research-project is a current initiative of DOST-ASTI to traverse and study this proposition. These networks are composed of ULAT stations that will detect and gather weather and lightning data for further analysis in achieving short-term forecasting.