Atmospheric Phenomena Lab

Researchers at the Atmospheric Phenomena Laboratory (APL) of the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM) have worked during the last six years building a network of sensors to provide the island of Puerto Rico with an advance warning system for severe weather conditions related to lightning. An important goal is to detect and locate lightning, and create a database to be used in the development of a custom model to predict lightning occurrences in Puerto Rico. Research at APL has been focused on designing, testing and building a prototype lightning location system. A prototype of the system has been implemented and it consists of three remote stations, linked through the University of Puerto Rico’s computer network. Stations are located in Arecibo, Cayey and Mayagüez. Data is received and processed at UPRM from the remote stations to determine the location of the lightning discharge.