In the Irkutsk region and in Buryatia, an automated system for predicting fires has been installed
The lightning direction finding system, which will allow determining the locations of lightning strikes and fires arising from them, was first installed by scientists around Lake Baikal. It is expected that in the future it will reduce the number of forest fires in Russia. The operation of this device was discussed at the Irkutsk National Research Technical University.
Almost two-quarters of the country is covered with forest, where there can be from 9 to 35 thousand fires per year. The damage is extremely great. Animals are dying, forestry is suffering, the atmosphere is polluted by combustion products. Fires can occur for various reasons, one of them is lightning strikes during a thunderstorm. This problem was taken up by IRNITU staff together with colleagues from the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They created a lightning direction finding system that will allow in the future to determine the exact location of passing thunderstorms, places where lightning strikes. Accordingly, all this will help prevent or eliminate natural fires in time.
According to Alexander Poletaev, one of the developers of the project, the work was carried out as part of the Digital Baikal project, one of the areas of which is monitoring the natural environment.
The lightning direction finding system is based on the continuous collection of data on the impulses that accompany lightning discharges in thunderclouds. This data is received and transmitted by a special ring-shaped antenna, somewhat reminiscent of an amulet from the feature film «Dreamcatcher». By the difference in reception time, you can determine where the impulse came from, and thereby identify the area of u200bu200bthe passing thunderstorm and the potential location of the fire. Taking into account this information, in the future, the routes of air patrols of the forest by employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will be adjusted.
At the moment, 4 antennas have already been installed around Lake Baikal. One of them is right on the roof of the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics in the village of Tory, Republic of Buryatia. Three more in the Irkutsk region: in the village of Listvyanka, on the island of Olkhon and in Bratsk.
According to Poletaev, observations are ongoing, but it is important to understand that statistics and data comparison are needed for more accurate characteristics. It is planned to expand the network for mapping thunderstorms and for more accurate forecasting.