Diendorfer G., W. Schulz, C. Scherney:
Areas of increased lightning flash density on mountain tops
Lightning and Mountains, Chamonix, France, 1997
Several spots of significant high flash density have been discovered in Austria. Most of these spots are associated with different types of radio towers on top of mountains. In this paper the triggering effect of tall structures is confirmed.
As an example we have analyzed the data from a lightning location system for one of these spots in more detail. 81 flashes have been detected during a period of two years at a distance of less than 1 km from a radio tower. Most of these flashes are assumed to be direct strikes to the tower. In average their peak amplitudes and their number of subsequent strokes are higher compared to flashes to ground in the vicinity of the tower.
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