A new method to calculate lightning fatality risk is presented in order to develop a way to identify the lightning risk in areas where lightning fatality data are not available. This new method uses GIS software to multiply lightning flash density and population density on a grid and display the results on a map. A comparison to the known lightning fatality data was done to verify the method. T...

Different approaches are used in estimating the global production of NOx by lightning flashes, including field measurements carried out during thunderstorm conditions, theoretical studies combining the physics and chemistry of the electrical discharges, and measurements of NOx yield in laboratory sparks with subsequent extrapolation to lightning. In the latter procedure, laboratory data are ext...

Lightning NOx emissions calculated using the US National Lightning Detection Network data were found to account for 30% of the total NOx emissions for July–August 2004, a period chosen both for having higher lightning NOx production and high ozone levels, thus maximizing the likelihood that such emissions could impact peak ozone levels. Including such emissions led to modest, but sometimes sign...

Photogrammetric survey of lightning discharges is a very challenging task as lightning discharges are very transient, unpredictable, and random structures. In order to acquire images of lightning discharges outdoors, a stereo image acquisition system has been designed and implemented. Two cameras observe a limited area and autonomously detect occurrences of lightning discharges within their fie...

One of the purposes of consciousness is to acquire knowledge. The models of this task traditionally assume a division between the known and the knower, a division that leads into doubtful reasoning about some kind of (frequently disguised) homunculus. The current paper tries to avoid such fallacies by viewing the adaptation of the mind as an evolutionary process, a process distinct (but not ind...

Airships are necessarily exposed to the atmospheric electrical environment, which includes electric fields, electrostatic charges, and lightning. Protection from hazards presented by these environments is necessary. One of the main issues is protection of the envelope, which is usually filled with helium. Helium poses special problems in this regard, even though it is an inert gas, because elec...