August 28, 2006
Professor Helps Invent Lightning Sensor
By measuring electricity in the atmosphere, the device provides advance warning that lightning may be imminent, said William Beasley, a University of Oklahoma professor of meteorology, who helped invent the Campbell Scientific CS-110 Electric Field Meter.
[CS110 Electric Field Meter @]
The NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida has relied on electric field detection for decades.
"They use a network of electric field meters," the professor said. "If the electric field is greater than 1,000 volts per meter anywhere on the place, you can't fuel a car, you can't launch a rocket, you can't do anything because there's a charge overhead and it could lead to lightning.
~Doesn't say how much of a warning one might get or how accurate this $3,500 device is. But with lightning any kind of warning is better than no warning at all.
I've been noticing more metal boxes on poles than ever before. I don't feel a kinship with what they might be doing. The eyes in the skies (sic) got nothing for me.
Posted by Stubbornson at August 28, 2006 02:42 PM