The network comprises four state-of-the-art, long-range, high-sensitivity sensors located around the central northern Pacific Ocean. Businger is working with the U.S. division of Finnish technology firm Vaisala, Tucson, Ariz., and other agencies to expand the network with eight additional sensor sites by the end of 2008. It is part of the larger North American Lightning Detection Network of nearly 200 sensors that monitors lightning over the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Though Businger acknowledges that more research is needed, results from this study show that the growth and density of lightning strikes in a hurricane's eyewall provide important insight into the inner workings of the most powerful storms on Earth, information that may in the future help save lives through improved hurricane forecasts.