Disaster prevention by constructing worldwide lightning location network based on the IoT

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13971
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 25030:Disaster prevention engineering-related
• Research Institution: Shonan Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: NARITA TOMOMI 湘南工科大学, 工学部, 教授 (00767808)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 雷放電位置標定システム / VLF / 積乱雲

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have set up 53 receiving stations in Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa and the Ogasawara Islands, and also built a system to transfer data including magnetic field waveforms to a server, build a database, and save it. For the installation, we obtained the cooperation of universities all over the country. Furthermore, overseas, it has been installed in a total of 20 locations throughout Asia. As a result, there were 53 domestic stations and 20 overseas stations, for a total of 73 stations, and the largest lightning strike positioning network in Asia was constructed. This makes it possible to grasp lightning strikes in various parts of Asia in real time, and publishes them free of charge on the Internet, contributing to the prevention of meteorological disasters. As a result of comparison with other systems, the median position accuracy was 1km.

Free Research Field

防災工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ゲリラ豪雨などの極端な気象現象が発生している。急速に積乱雲が発生するため、気象レーダでは10分に一度程度しか情報が更新できず、把握が困難である。また、落雷位置標定システムは、積乱雲で発生する雷に伴う電磁波から位置を瞬時に把握できるが、電力会社などで活用されるだけであった。つまり、リアルタイムかつ詳細なデータは有料であった。そこで、ドイツを中心にボランティアが運用しているシステムを日本に初導入し、全国に受信局を展開し、リアルタイムかつ無料で落雷位置情報を提供した。これにより、積乱雲の発生をいち早く把握でき、ゲリラ豪雨などからの減災にも役立てられている。