Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway

Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by Scaevolus on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @12:33AM (#12387550)

Detecting lightning automatically isn't that hard-- it's a sudden burst of powerful, wideband static. There are several sites where users collaboratively trilaterate lighting strikes by sharing precise time-of-arrival data-- including live maps! http://en.blitzortung.org/live_dynamic_maps.php?map=11

The process is fast enough that in a thunderstorm, you'll probably get a packet specifying the lightning's coordinates before you hear the thunder!

Here's what the storm looked like: http://i.imgur.com/mkIqnlD.gif

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by somedangedname on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:17AM (#12388112)

> en.blitzortung.org

Turn on the visualisation for 'Detectors' to see which reporting stations provided data for each strike.

Looks really cool!

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by Udik on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:03AM (#12388066)

You do, and on lightningmaps.org you can even watch on the map the thunder front traveling at the speed of sound. Disappointingly, though, it appears that the lightnings positioning isn't reliable enough to actually predict when you'll be reached by the thunder, let alone go out there and look for a nice piece of fulgurite!

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by thaumasiotes on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @04:25AM (#12388335)

Do what the guy does in Sweet Home Alabama: go off into the wilderness, put up some big metal rods, and after a thunderstorm check the rods for lightning strikes.

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by buro9 on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @05:15AM (#12388483)

Or go build your own lightning field like Walter de Maria

https://artappreciation101.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/demar...

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2...

Of which there is a great description if Geoff Dyer's latest book White Sands.

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by ablation on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @10:23AM (#12390414)

Is that actually the thunder front travelling at the speed of sound? My understanding of how Blitzortung works (and similar sites like Lightningmaps.org) is that animation was just a visual cue to draw the eye rather than trying to replicate the time between a strike and the sound.

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by Udik on Wednesday August 31, 2016 @06:39PM (#12402014)

On lightningmaps.org yes, you can see the thunder front (if you zoom close enough).

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Re:Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Norway by ablation on Saturday September 03, 2016 @06:03AM (#12418576)

Very interesting! Thanks for pointing that out!

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