Météorage Lightning data for flood monitoring Marc Bonnet V.P. International October, 2011 Météorage Lightning data for flood monitoring Marc Bonnet V.P. International October, 2011

2 ► Company overview ► Lightning data  Lightning phenomenon and detection principles  Lightning data in Poland ► Applications for flood management  Tools  Examples of use in Civil Security applications Agenda

3 ► A private French Company created in 1987 ► A subsidiary of Météo France (since 2001) Based in Pau - France ► Our Know-how  Operation of the French Lightning Detection Network,  Development of lightning operating systems (CATS) and application software (Observation),  Production and marketing of lightning services for end-users in Europe (France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, U.K.)  Engineering for Lightning Detection Network  Météorage is granted with the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Standard.

4 From Cloud … What is lightning ? … to Electricity  A transient electrical discharge  Typically occurs in thunderstorms, but occasionally in snowstorms, sandstorms, and volcanoes  Types of Lightning Cloud-to-ground Intra-Cloud  70% of lightning remains in cloud  A complete lightning discharge is known as a flash  A flash is composed of multiple strokes, each one being producing a charge transfer to ground

5 Benefits of ground based lightning detection networks  National coverage : the full information is available anywhere within the territory  Data Quality : an homogeneous level of quality  Reliability : the network is supervised and maintained 24h/24 and 7d/7  Network effect when extending the coverage  Lightning information :  Impact information (date, position, intensity, polarity, accuracy)  Statistics from a National Data Base  Centrally operated and nationally available end- user products :  Real time information  Archived data  No investment, no maintenance  Provide a different measure  A complement to radar, satellite or rain gauges Acoustic Optic Electro- static Electro- magnetic

Lightning in Poland Key points of lightning detection in Poland ► PERUN system (9 sensors) works operationally from 2002 ► Data is archived continuously ► Data is used by synoptic, aviation, power lines ► 2010 upgrade of visualization software ► 2011 network and system upgrade preparations ► System is owned by IMGW ► IMGW has its own service crew maintaining and administrating the system Lightning data characteristics ► PERUN system detects cloud-to-ground and intra-cloud data ► Information about polarity (positive, negative) and about current intensity in discharge channel is available 6

Lightning in Poland ► Lightning density map in Poland, for

IMGW’s projects for lightning data ► Institute of Meteorology and Water Management National Research Institute is the largest provider of hydro - meteorological data, products and services on the Polish market ► IMGW has been developing its data and products for remote sensing of lightning using PERUN system for 10 years ► Using many years of experience and vast knowledge on meteorology, IMGW is looking for possibilities of wider use of lightning data in other sectors of the economy than currently exploited ► The IMGW's current goals are:  public awareness of the significance of information on lightning data and possible consequences of lightnings  development of an early warning system of impending lightning hazard  improvement of distribution system of lightning data and warnings  reach the largest possible number of users ► Currently IMGW plans to cooperate in the development of appropriate tool to achieve those goals 8

9 Real time applications Observation Jobs : An end user software designed to display, process and analyze lightning events in real time or from recorded data. Lightning Alarm : A service designed to warn the end user when a storm approaches his region and help him apply ad hoc procedures Message Display Area under surveillance

10 Civil Security applications Lightning-rain correlation Document by Prédict Montpellier Flood crisis management: -Lightning is an early indicator for heavy rains -Lightning provides a first level of alarm -Good correlation with other type of data (radar,…) Forest fire monitoring: Lightning information allows to prevent fire extension Planning for crew management Site survey planification Lightning layer on customer GIS

11 Thank you for your attention, question ?